More Than It Seems
by Twilightlova20
Summary: **Post 3A** As things dive deeper into the world of Beacon Hills, Danny finds himself questioning everyone and everything around. Who can he trust? His best friend, his close friends and his boyfriend who kept these secrets from him. He can't walk away from them because whether or not he likes it, he has been involved for longer than he thought.
1. Odd Situations

**AN: Okay, so I'm back with my second story to do with Teen Wolf. This basically sets after the events of 3A and this is my take on what could happen when the season returns for 3B. This is my first time writing Danny, but I really wanted to give it a try. I'm really excited to see what happens with Danny and his relationship with Ethan. Danny is bound to find out everything soon. It's only a matter of time. So from the way I have it planned out, this story should be only from Danny's point of view and it shouldn't switch to anyone elses. But anyways, here's the first chapter and I hope you enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Teen Wolf. All the characters belong to the creator Jeff Davis.

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**Chapter 1 – Odd Situations**

Have you ever had the feeling that you were being watched? Not those little stares that people give you when they think you aren't looking, but the feeling that someone or something is constantly watching your every move, listening to every word that you are speaking. I've had this feeling for months now; walking home, out with my friends and even at school. School, the place where you are supposed to feel the safest.

I spot Beacon Hills High School coming into view, as I walk to school. I miss the days when Jackson still lived here. I could just ask him for a ride basically whenever I wanted. I have my license, but since I don't have my car at the moment because it's in the shop, I'm stuck walking to school. I feel the wind pick up and I look to see a bunch of leaves blowing off the trees nearby. I feel the sudden shiver on my back, and I feel like someone is watching me. My feet halt on the pavement, and I stop to observe the sounds around. For a moment I thought I could hear someone snickering, or even growling. My head turns to the side to see Isaac Lahey coming out of the forest and I notice another man walk off in the opposite direction. Isaac's eyes widen as he turns to see me watching him and he quickly jogs off towards the entrance to the school. Curious, I run after him, in the direction that he went but he had a head start so that made it hard. I scurry through the parking lot, which was not the safest thing to do, and I dart up the steps and into the doors of the front entrance. I make my way through the halls and the crowds of students over to my locker to gather my books before class begins. I glance around the halls, but I don't see any of my friends around. As my locker comes into view, I spot my boyfriend Ethan leaning against it waiting for me. He's talking with his twin brother Aiden and Isaac, who looks like he is quickly explaining something important to the twins, but then sees me and runs off in the opposite direction once again. I notice Aiden turn to watch him, but Ethan turns his head and smiles when he sees me coming closer. As I get closer, Aiden looks at me as well and then whispers something to Ethan and walks off just as I walk up to them.

"Hey," I say as I glance at Aiden's retreating form.

"Hey Danny," Ethan says. I notice that he seems to be tense in a way; guarded. This has been happening for a while now and I'm guessing it had something to do with the way that Isaac acted when he saw me watching.

"Where's Aiden going?" I ask as I open my locker up and begin gathering my books for class.

"Oh, don't worry about that. He just has to talk to someone."

"Oh really, who? Is it Isaac?" I question.

"Does it matter?" Ethan snaps which makes me flinch. That's the first time he's ever snapped at me.

"No, sorry. Just curious," I reply quietly not making eye contact.

"Hey," Ethan steps closer to me, "sorry for snapping. I've just been stressed lately. There's a lot of stuff going on."

"Okay?" I answer, making sure I phrased it as a question. I glance at Ethan who is standing on my right to see what his reaction would be before answering. However, to my disappointment his expression remained neutral.

"Danny, I promise I have a good reason for not telling you," Ethan shift closer to me.

I nod my head and decide to drop the subject before I end up starting an argument, which is the last thing that I want to do right now. Even though I was hoping to get an explanation. I grabbed the books that I would need for Chemistry and slammed my locker door shut.

"So are we still on for the movie tonight?" I ask as Ethan falls into step beside me as we make our way towards our classes.

"A night alone with you sounds great, but Aiden was wondering if he and Lydia can join us."

"Yeah, I guess that's fine. But I thought that it was just going to be us tonight?" I ask slightly disappointed. Ever since Ethan and I became official, we haven't been alone together on any dates. We were alone more before we began dating. It's like Ethan and Aiden are following the buddy system or something. I don't care that much though. I consider Lydia one of closest friends, mostly because of Jackson, but it's bothering me that Ethan and Aiden keep on talking in hush whispers and shooting each other glances when they think Lydia and I aren't looking. But, Lydia doesn't seem to bothered by it all which doesn't make much sense to me.

"That was the plan, but then I mentioned to Aiden our plans and Lydia overheard, then suggested that we it as a group thing, and Aiden would be pissed if I refused Lydia," Ethan's voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

"Lydia, and your brother aren't that scary for you, are they?" I tease. Ethan gives me a playful shove as we arrive at my Chemistry class. I notice the substitute teacher, Mr. Patterson already inside preparing for the lesson. Mr. Harris still hasn't been found, and no one knows where he could be, or if he is still even alive at this point.

"So, the four of us tonight sound good?" Ethan asks me.

"Yeah, the four of us." I give him a small smile and lean in to kiss him bye. Ethan gladly returns the kiss and pushes me further into him when I move to pull away. It was hard not to let it go further, but we were still in the school hallway with gawking eyes surrounding us.

"See you at lunch," I whisper before turning into the classroom as Ethan smirks and makes his way to his class.

The morning went by pretty fast. I didn't have to endure long, dragged out lessons and had the chance to move around and do group work in my classes. It sucks though, because when we would get told to partner up I would always go with Jackson, but now I have no choice but to partner with a random person or someone I know who I share a class with. Normally, it's Stiles because despite how many odd questions that pop out of his mouth, he is a pretty hard worker and doesn't slack off.

I make my way through the sea of students in the hallway and head to the cafeteria. Just outside the doors I notice Scott and Stiles in a deep, hushed conversation that involves them whispering which seems odd for them considering they are normally loud. After I get my lunch, I approach my usual table that I used to sit at with Lydia and Jackson, but it now seats Lydia and Aiden currently. They also seem to be deep in conversation and before I can overhear anything Aiden glances up and tries to subtle in trying stop the conversation they were having.

"Hey," I state setting my tray down on the table before sitting. They both give me a smile back.

"Hey Danny," Lydia greets.

"Where's your brother?" I ask Aiden. He glances up from his phone that he pulled out and grins.

"He's coming."

"Ookay," I reply, kind of confused about the grin that he was giving me.

"However, I think it's probably best that you and my brother keep your love for each other more to yourselves. I saw the show this morning," Aiden teases.

I feel my face burn as red as a tomato. Lydia snickers to herself.

"We were just saying bye before class," I try to defend myself, but even I can tell that it's going to be a lost cause.

"Mhmm. That's nice and all, but I believe that a bye doesn't take that long."

I blush even harder at that comment. I pick up my turkey sandwich off my tray and take a huge bite.

"Oh," Lydia pipes up, "Just don't go for closets and offices. That's our thing." Aiden bursts out laughing and I choke on my sandwich. I'm in the middle of my coughing fit when I feel a hand rub my back in soothing motions. Once I calmed down I notice that it was Ethan and he was now sitting next to me, looking at me concerned for a moment. Once he sees that I am okay, he glances at Aiden and Lydia, who are trying not to laugh.

"What's going on?" he asks. I look down at my half eaten sandwich, trying to hide the blush that rises on my face once again.

"Hmm, well. We were just discussing you and Danny's love towards each other. Especially the bit that we all seen this morning before class," Lydia remarks.

Ethan laughs and glances my way. I look up as well and meet his gaze and smile.

"Embarrassed?" he questions.

I shake my head, "Not at all."

"Good," he says and then leans in to give me another kiss which isn't as extreme as the one this morning. Lydia and Aiden don't say anything, they just smile at our actions. A few minutes later, more people beginning arriving at our table. Scott and Stiles first. Then Allison and Isaac, however Isaac still seems to be avoiding any conversation with me as he won't glance at me and chooses to sit at the seat farthest from me, but still close to the group. Many conversations begin at the table and I don't really pay attention to it. I continue eating my lunch, while holding Ethan's hand in my own and wait for the day to be over with so I can spend time with Ethan tonight and with Aiden and Lydia.

It's not long before school has been out for hours and I've sitting in Lydia's living room, next to Ethan on the couch, listening to everyone debate about what movie we should watch. It was easy to agree to watch a movie. The trouble was agreeing to a movie that we all wanted to watch.

"So is the notebook okay with everyone?" Lydia holds up the DVD for the three of us to see. I laugh out loud at her attempt to put Aiden through that movie just like she did to Jackson constantly. Ethan and Aiden look at me questioningly.

"That's fine with me," Aiden replies. I look at him shocked. I don't know if he is trying to stay on Lydia's good side or what, but I am not sitting through the notebook. I've seen it once and had the many complaints from Jackson to ever want to see it again.

"C'mon Lydia, seriously? The notebook ... again," I raise my eyebrows at her suggestion and she quickly dismisses the idea when she realizes that I'm implying Jackson. I know for a fact that they have spoken since he has left, but the idea of Jackson just leaving out of the blue still hurts her, especially when it looked as though they had a break through in their relationship. To be honest, it still bugs me to know that my best friend just up and left to move to London. I hardly believe that his parents wanting to get Jackson away from Beacon Hills was what made Jackson agree to go.

"Hm, how about we watch a romantic comedy?" I suggest. Honestly I didn't really care what movie we watched, but I could tell that the twins didn't find that idea appealing.

"Kay, guys we can't pick something she wouldn't like. It wouldn't be fair, she is the only girl here," I stated on Lydia's behalf. There was a bit of a debate but in the end we decided to watch a comedy. I can't remember what the movie was called though. I didn't really pay much attention to it. I have too many things on my mind to pay attention to some movie. I can't seem to get out of my head Ethan's weird behaviour. And Aiden's and Isaac's. In fact, the way that everyone has been acting is sort of weird.

"I declare that this is my new favourite movie," Aiden voice breaks me from my thoughts. I look beside me to see Ethan roll his eyes before saying, "You say that about every movie we watch."

"Yeah, well this movie was better than I thought. Right Lydia?"

"It was okay, I guess. I still say that the notebook is what we should have watched." I groan at that comment. If Lydia gets her way on the next movie night, then we will all be watching that movie then I will be the one complaining to Jackson. We all chatted for a little while longer before Ethan and I decided that it was time to go when Lydia and Aiden began to make out right in front of us.

The car ride was silent for the most part aside from the hum of the engine and the cars beeping their horns at each other around us. I must have been out of it because I didn't notice that Ethan had parked in his usual spot out of view from my house, which gives us more privacy than parking right in front of my house in the full view of my parents.

"So, how did you like the movie?" Ethan asks me.

"It was good. Really funny," I state. I didn't want to say that I barely paid any attention to the movie at all, because he will want to know why and I don't know how to bring everything that I have wondered about the last few months since he has got here and the past year with everyone else.

Ethan must know that I wasn't paying much attention tonight because he then says, "Yeah it was. What was your favourite part?"

"Uh...well..." I'm lost; I don't know how to answer that question.

"I knew you were distracted tonight. What's going on?"

I look down in embarrassment and shrug.

"Hey," Ethan murmurs and I feel his hand come and rest on my cheek for a moment before moving and tilting my chin up to look in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" he questions.

"Nothing's wrong. I've just been distracted today and everything's just been catching up with me; all of my thoughts," I explain. I'm not really ready to ask him to tell me everything and it's not like my answer was exactly a lie.

"Oh, that's okay. Hey, you know if you ever want to talk, you can come to me. I'll listen and try to help," Ethan offers, thankfully dropping the topic.

I nod, "I know."

"Hey, how about to make up for tonight we go out tomorrow. Just the two of us," Ethan suggests.

"Maybe a movie and dinner, or something?" I ask. I feel my mood brightening up a bit with the idea of spending some alone time with Ethan. Just the two of us.

"Yeah, whatever you want."

I smile and pull him in for a kiss. His lips move against mine slowly at first and I open my mouth and feel his tongue slide in. One of his hands is back on my cheek and the other is moving down to rest on my waist . We were only in the car, so we couldn't be as close as we wanted to, but I place my hand behind his neck to try and pull him closer. Ethan's lips were just moving on to my neck when my phone beeps in my pocket. We groan at the same time and I reach into my pocket to pull my phone out.

**You only have a few moments until curfew. I hope you are almost home or are going to call if you are going to be late. -Mom**

I type back a response. **  
**  
**Yeah, we are almost home. Be there in about 5 minutes.**

"It's my mom. My curfew's almost up."

"It's almost 12 already? Okay." Ethan turns to key on the engine and slowly drives up the bit of metres to my house. I lean in to give Ethan another kiss on the lips before moving to get out of the car. "So what time tomorrow should we go out?" I ask and turn back to look at Ethan.

"I'll pick you up at 5," he answers me and gives me a smile.

"Kay, see you tomorrow," I reply, returning his smile.

I shut the door and wave goodbye as he pulls away from the house. I jog across the lawn to my front door and make it inside with a few minutes to spare from my curfew.

"Hey, honey. How was your date?" my mom asks from the living room.

"It was good," I reply while walking slightly into the room.

"We're going out again tomorrow night as well. If that's alright with you?" I ask.

"Of course it is. I've already told you how much your father and I like Ethan. He seems to be a very honest boy compared to some of the others you have dated."

I laugh, "Yeah, he is. But don't even mention those other guys."

My mom laughs as well, "Alright."

"Well, I'm heading up to bed. Night."

"Night honey. Be quiet when you go up please. Your dad's in bed already."

"Okay." I head up the stairs and walk the short distance to my room. Once I'm behind my closed door, I option to shower in the morning and quickly change into my pyjamas, which consist of a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt, before climbing into bed. I check my phone for any missed messages, but after seeing that I had none, I place it on the nightstand beside my bed. The warmth of my bed comforts me and relaxes me while I wait for sleep to come. I've been drowning in my thoughts lately and I hope I don't lose a nights sleep for it.

Why didn't I just tell Ethan what I seen today? What I've been seeing and hearing lately? I know everyone's been hiding something from me. Why was Isaac in the woods this morning and why would he immediately run off if there wasn't anything wrong? A thought occurs to me and I grab my phone from beside me and quickly type a message to Jackson.

**Hey, I'm going to bed right now but I wanna video chat tomorrow sometime in the morning/afternoon. My time. I haven't talked to you in a while.**

I honestly wonder if I can ask Jackson what's been going on. There are things that everyone knows except for me and maybe they think that I can't handle the truth. What if I find out and it complicates things? I know though, that I can't keep living in fear and denial.


	2. I Miss You

**Chapter 2 – I Miss You**

Honestly, I think I slept like crap. Between waking up every few hours, and sitting there wide awake, I probably got 5 hours of sleep the most and I am used to much more than that. After I literally kill my alarm that was sitting beside my bed on the nightstand, and now is laying on the floor, surprisingly still plugged in, I groan and stretch my arms before getting the energy to get out of bed. My phone beeps and I pick it up to see that Jackson replied to my text from last night.

**Hey. Sure whenever is fine with me dude...just you better not wake me up if it's late there. **

I roll my eyes at his lame warning and head on over to my computer to boot it up. While it was loading, I glance at the time and see that it is 7:00 am. Seeing that I had a few moments to spare, I decided to grab my towel off the back of my door, and head into the bathroom to grab a quick shower.

Ten minutes later, I emerge from the bathroom and head back into my room in just my towel. I quickly change into a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans. I pull a black sweater over my head before logging on and seeing that Jackson was online. I request a video chat and while I'm waiting for him to accept, I glance at the time and see that it should be a little after 3:00 pm there.

_"Hey dude." _

I look back to my screen to see that Jackson's face has popped onto my screen.

"Hey,"I reply back to him.

_ "How long do you have before you have to leave for school?"_

"About an hour. Mom is driving me today so I don't have to walk."

_ "Missing my porsche yet?" _he teases.

"Yeah... and my car. But actually believe it or not, I'm missing you more,"I mock right back.

_ "Course you are, it's me we're talking about. Who wouldn't miss me?" _

"Well, probably McCall or Stilinski. But anyways, what's been going on there in London?"

_ "Nothing really. My parents were trying to keep me from playing sports because of last year, but that didn't stop me. You should have seen their faces when I first got hurt just doing cross country here. They freaked. But whatever, how about you? Finstock working your asses there for cross country?"_

"Yeah. We've had quite the time so far. Between dead bodies showing up and meets getting cancelled after being forced to spend creepy nights in spooky motels off the side of the road, it has been a blast every freaking morning and after school mandatory practice," I tell him sarcastically.

_ "Sounds fun," _Jackson replies. I could have sworn I saw his face fall at the mention of the events here, but I can't be too sure, it's still early.

_"So,"_ Jackson says, _"Everything okay with you?"_

"What do you mean?" I ask.

_"Really?"_ Jackson says while raising his brow at me, _"I'm your best friend, I know when something's bothering you. Is it about Lydia?"_

"What? No, it's not Lydia. She's fine, I think. It's just that... um... okay yesterday I spotted Isaac before I went inside the school in the morning. I had heard growling beforehand and I turned to look towards the trees and I spotted him talking to an older man and then they both walked off in opposite directions."

_ "So? Maybe he knows him. Maybe Lahey has a long lost family member or something that has come back," _Jackson suggests, but something about the tone of his voice suggests that he knows more than he is saying.

"Well, maybe. But then Isaac turned and saw me watching and then he ran away from me and avoided me all day. When he got to the table at lunch, he sat as far away as possible from me and to top it off, Ethan and his brother Aiden are acting weird as well. As well, as Lydia. Ethan won't tell me anything and assists that all of our dates should be spent doubling with Lydia and Aiden," I explain and then immediately feel a bit uncomfortable. I try to avoid mentioning Lydia when I talk to Jackson and especially mentioning Aiden and Lydia in the same sentence together.

_"Danny,"_ Jackson says, I guess choosing to ignore the Lydia and Aiden mention, _"you're paranoid. Lahey's weird, and probably has gotten weirder since hanging out with McCall and Stilinski. And as for your boyfriend or whatever he is, don't bug him. If there's something going on let him tell you. You always get like this when you get in a new relationship with some new guy. Chill out."_

"Geez, when did you get so wise?" I tease Jackson.

_"Just listen to me. I'm right,"_ Jackson retorts.

"I guess so..." I_'_m interrupted by my mom shouting at me from downstairs, "Danny! I'm leaving in 5 minutes!"

"Okay, be down in a sec!" I yell back.

_"Bye dude. Remember calm down and relax. Oh, and make sure you keep on kicking McCall's ass in cross country," _Jackson says.

I laugh, "Will do. Bye Jacks."

_"Later,"_ he says before stopping our chat session. I shut down my computer and grab my backpack before heading down the stairs and meeting my mom in the car.

The school day went by pretty fast per say. The cross country team is in the locker room now, after a long, sweaty practice. I notice Coach off yelling at Greenburg about something and everyone else is coming back from the showers that I was just at and grumpily getting dressed before leaving the locker room.

"Hey, Danny Boy."

I turn my head to my right to see that Stiles has opened up his locker which is a few down from mine. I look behind me and notice Scott head into the showers and turn to see Isaac leave out the locker room doors.

"Hey..." I reply. I turn back and continue placing my clothes in my bag while Stiles begins doing the same.

"So, could I ask you for a favour perhaps?" Stiles asks casually.

"Nope," I automatically reply to him.

"What...why not?" Stiles exclaims.

"For one, Stilinski, the last time I did a favour for you I ended up sitting in your bedroom while your cousin Miguel was in there and I had you try and set me up with him! And second of all, it was only months ago that you were shouting, in that very spot might I add, about how you were a virgin and you wanted someone to, I quote "sex me right now."

"Hey, that was a life or death situation!" Stiles defends.

I roll my eyes, "Mhm... and why do you think you would have died if you didn't have sex?"

"Uh..." Stiles stammers, "Now that you mention it, you're actually right. Not important. Nope not at all."

Stiles shoves his track shoes into his bag, zips it close and shuts his locker before practically darting out of the locker room with a shout to Scott who was just coming out of the showers that he would see him later.

I don't think much about Stiles' odd behaviour, because he's...well Stiles. But I do find it weird how he changed the subject that quickly. He probably just got embarrassed or something. To be perfectly honest, I was only joking when I had made that offer months ago to help Stiles out with his virginity problem. It's not that he's ugly or unattractive, because he's actually not, especially now that he's grown his hair out and all, it's just that he's too close to me now in a way. We're sort of friends now, and it would just be weird if it hadn't worked out. And plus, the amount of stuff that Jackson would say to me about it would just give me a headache.

The short lived conversation I had with Stiles leaves my head as I get home and spend the next few hours getting ready for my date with Ethan. I'm in the middle of choosing between my black v-neck shirt or my blue shirt when I hear a knock on my bedroom door.

"Hey bud."

I glance up to see my dad enter my room and sit on my bed. I place my black shirt down and take a seat across from him in my computer chair.

"What's up, dad?" I ask.

My dad glances at the shirt for a moment before turning his attention back to me.

"I'm just checking to see how you're doing. Your mom just left to head over to the store quickly and I've been wondering how you've been holding up. You know with Jackson leaving and all."

"I'm doing fine," I reply.

"Oh, I see that," he smirks a bit, "I just wasn't sure."

I see my dad is looking for me to say more. I take a few breaths and admit something about how I've been feeling for the past few months. I see that he's trying and that doesn't always happen as he works a lot.

"Well...actually, I've been good recently. You know, Jackson leaving was hard and still is," my dad nods his head in understanding. "He was the first person I came out to about being gay and he's been there for me through everything, including all the teasing I got at first. I didn't really have any other really good friends; I had a few, but Jackson was the one person I'm truly comfortable around because he's my best friend. You know... I actually sat alone at lunch a few times at the beginning of the year because it was just odd sitting where we used to sit. I even felt weird talking to Lydia. I still do sometimes."

"Why?," my dad questions confused, "She's your friend."

"Yeah, she is," I agree, "But, seeing her with Aiden is just a constant reminder that my best friend is in London of all places and that he probably won't be coming back, unless his parents change their minds. It's weird not seeing her with Jackson constantly, making out, hell even fighting with him. I miss it."

"And now what?" my dad asks me.

"Now," I continue, " I have a boyfriend and I'm actually confident that this one will work out with no complications attached. I'm really happy with him. He makes school bearable and easy to deal with, and he helps me get through another day there without my best friend. He takes away the constant reminder that everything has changed so fast within the past few months."

"That's good you found Ethan, Danny. We actually really like him. But, keep talking to Lydia, it will get easier as the months go by and you get used to not having Jackson there. Keep busy bud, and keep talking to Jackson...despite that stupid dare he made you do and got you arrested, he's a good kid and has been through a lot, just like you have."

"Thanks, " I say. I glance at the time and then look at my phone when it beeps.

**I'm leaving in about 5 minutes... see you soon :)**

I reply back to him.

** Great! Can't wait! :) **

My dad must have sensed that Ethan was almost there because he stands up and before walking out of my room, tosses the blue shirt to me.

"Have fun tonight!" he calls from his room.

"Thanks!"

I finish getting ready, and head outside when I hear Ethan pull up outside.

It was about 20 minutes later when we arrived at the restaurant that Ethan chose for us to eat at. As soon as we walked in, I could tell that it was an Italian restaurant, which is my favourite. Ethan squeezes my hand gently and leads me over to the hostess, who smiles when she sees us approaching.

"Hello. Is it just you two tonight?" she asks us happily.

"Yes, it is," Ethan tells her politely.

"Okay," she says while picking up two menus, "Follow me then."

She leads us through the restaurant that is beginning to grow busier by the moment as more people are coming in after us. She leads us to a booth located in the only quiet part of the restaurant and we thank her before sitting down.

"Someone will be here soon to take your drink orders," she replies before placing the menus down in front of us and heading back towards the crowd of people at the front of the restaurant.

"This place is nice. You didn't have to do this," I tell him.

"Oh, it's fine. I've been wanting to take you here for a while now. I just hope it makes up for all the times we haven't got to spend together recently," Ethan replies.

"Hmm... I don't know about that..." I tease him. Ethan smiles at me and a laugh escapes my mouth.

"Yeah, I guess it does," I tell him as a waitress appears at our table to take our orders.

"Hi, I'm Bethany. I'll be your server for tonight. Have you both thought of what you want to drink yet?"

"Actually, I'll just have a Spirit please." Ethan tells her.

Bethany nods, writes down his order, and turns to look at me.

"I'll have a Pepsi, please."

She writes it down on her pad of paper.

"I'll be back in a few minutes with your drinks."

After she walks off, I turn to look at the menu.

"So, any recommendations?" I ask Ethan and glance up at him from the menu.

"Hm, yeah. I was thinking we both order the Alfredo pasta. It's what I always like to get when I go to restaurants."

"Okay then," I say as Bethany returns with our drinks.

"Here your Spirit,"she places it in front of Ethan.

"And, here's your Pepsi," she says as she places it in front of me.

"Thanks," Ethan and I both end up saying at the same time. We both blush and Bethany laughs at us politely.

"No, problem. Have you both thought of what you would like to order yet?"

"Actually, yes. We both would like the Alfredo pasta, please." Ethan tells her.

"Mhm, good choice there. It's tastes amazing," she tells us while writing it down.

"Anything else?" she asks once she finishes.

Ethan glances at me, but I shake my head, "No, that will be it," he tells her.

She nods before heading off to place our orders into the kitchen.

"So, that was a killer practice today wasn't it?" I say to Ethan.

"Ugh, yeah I know. Is the coach always like that?"

I laugh, "Yeah basically. You should see him when lacrosse season comes around."

"I can't wait," Ethan replies and I laugh at the facial expression that he is making.

"So are you coming out for the team when it starts up again?" I ask.

"Aiden and I were both thinking about it, but we weren't sure yet."

"You totally should. We won the championships last year," I tell him.

"Really?" Ethan replies

"Yeah, actually Stiles was the one who won us the game. We were totally going to lose that game. We were down about like 10 points and Finstock put him on the field and at first it was a disaster, but he got better and scored us over 10 points. Including the one that won us the game."

"Wow," Ethan replies, "Sounds like that was quite a game."

"Oh, it was," I laugh remembering how many of us got hurt and how crazy Finstock was getting when he thought we were going to lose.

"Coach is probably going to put Stiles on the field for now on. Which he should, he proved that he doesn't totally suck and can play," I tell him.

"Who's the captain?" Ethan asks.

I laugh at that, "Well, it was Jackson for the most part and then coach decided that he wanted co-captains so he made Scott captain as well as Jackson. Jackson was pissed off."

Ethan laughs.

"So, I guess now that Jackson's moved, Scott will be the captain in replace of Jackson," I continue.

"And that's a good thing, right?"

"Oh, yeah," I say a bit caught off guard by Ethan's question.

I continue, "Scott was a good co-captain. He and Jackson didn't totally kill each other. And he's a good player. So yeah, I'm totally fine with Scott being captain."

"I can't wait to see you play," Ethan says to me while grabbing my hand from across the table and holds it gently.

"Thanks," I smile at him, "But, I'm the goalie. So you'll get to see me blocking those shots that everyone makes at me."

"Oh, I can't wait."

Bethany returns then with our dishes. She places the plates in front of us and warns us that they are hot and offers cheese. Once we get cheese, she walks off to take another tables order. Ethan and I fall into casual conversation about how both of our days went and I laugh at a story he tells me about how he caught Aiden and Lydia making out in one of the empty classrooms. We fall into a comfortable silence as we finish off the remainder of our meals. Soon after, Bethany returns and we decline dessert while Ethan pays for the meal before I can even reach for my wallet.

"Thanks for dinner," I say as we head outside.

"No, problem. Anything for you."

We walk until we reach his motorcycle and I stand there waiting for him to get on first so that I can get on behind him. Instead of getting on the bike, he turns towards me and pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around him as I return his hug and a few moments past before he looks at me and leans towards me. I close my eyes as I feel Ethan's lips on mine and he's kissing me softly. I don't know how it is possible, but I pull him closer and find myself moaning into the kissing. We were probably standing there for a while, before I had to stop because we were still in the parking lot.

"So, do you wanna see a movie?" Ethan asks me quietly as we move apart and get onto his motorcycle.

"I would love too," I tell him before he turns on the ignition and pulls out of the parking lot.

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	3. Late At Night

**Chapter 3 – Late At Night**

The sunset was pretty nice while it lasted. It's now night time and the party going on at the lake was growing by the moment. People were drinking and dancing by the bonfire that some people put together when it began getting dark. I turn and spot Ethan walking towards me with two drinks in his hands and a huge grin on his face. It's been a few days since our date and things were better than ever. He's been trying to spend more time with me without it seeming excessive.

"Here you are. I can't promise you that someone hasn't spiked it though," Ethan says handing me my drink.

I gladly accept it and laugh at the possibly that this drink was not spiked.

"Oh, it probably is. That's why I'm only having one tonight. Gotta be able to drive home."

Ethan smirks at me and we turn just in time to see Lydia and Allison walking towards us. I notice Allison has a reluctant look on her face, as they get closer, almost as if she would rather be anywhere but here.

"Hey boys," Lydia greets us.

"Hey," Allison greets as well.

"Hey," Ethan and I both reply at the same time once again.

We both blush which makes Lydia and Allison laugh.

"How cute," Aiden teases as he walks up to us as well. I notice Allison begin to look really uncomfortable now and she glances at something in the distance. I look in the same direction and see that Stiles' has arrived in his jeep.

"I'm going to go say hi to Stiles," she tells us before taking off towards Stiles without even waiting for any of us to reply.

"I wonder where Scott and Isaac are?" I question. I would have thought that they would be with Stiles, or that at least Allison probably knew where one of them was. She seems to have both Scott and Isaac chasing after her these days. Even if Scott doesn't want to admit it, he wants her back. You can see it every time they are in the same room together; the longing in his eyes. But I have to hand it to him for being so strong through their break up though. I actually admire the fact that they have remained friends; most couples don't. Lydia glances at me, almost as if she knows what I am thinking and smiles softly at me but shrugs her shoulders to answer my question.

"So how long have you two been here?" Aiden questions us, while Lydia checks her phone.

"Not long, probably for about an hour," I reply. I feel quite surprised at the answer myself. I didn't realize that we have only been there for that short of time. We're probably going to be here for a few more hours at least.

My thoughts are interrupted by an argument going on between two girls a few feet away from us. From the sounds of it, they seemed to be fighting over a guy that they both liked. Typical fights that I'm lucky to not be exposed to with my friends.

Lydia and Aiden make some excuse about going to get drinks, which for them was code that they were going to make out. After they head off, way past the drink table, Ethan and I move closer to the open tree line to gaze towards the lake. The water was beginning to lose the shine and glimmer that it had, as it becomes darker and the light disappears.

"We should come back here sometime," I suggest to Ethan after we have been standing there and talking for about 20 minutes.

I turn my head to my right to see him smile at me, "Yeah, we should. Just us?"

"Hmm..." I begin, "Yeah, or with everyone else. I don't mind either way."

"Really? You wouldn't mind spending more time with Aiden and Lydia?" Ethan teases me.

"Oh, don't push it now," I shoot back at him. Ethan moves to stand behind me and wraps his arms around my waist gently. I smile as I lean back into his chest and enjoy the comfort that he brings me and the warmth that I feel inside. He begins to nuzzle my neck after about 5 or 10 minutes, but the moment is interrupted by a loud howling that comes from the forest near by. I feel Ethan quickly drop his arms and step back from me, his eyes off of me and the lake, and now on the forest where the howl came from.

"What was that?" I ask quietly. I begin to get the familiar feeling that something bad is going to happen.

Ethan glances at me, when he hears my question and his frown turns into a small smile.

"It was probably nothing. It's probably nothing to worry about," he tries to reassure me.

"Sure," I reply and smile back to show him that I'm not scared and I try to ignore the feeling in my stomach that something bigger was going on.

Ethan and I make our way back towards the bonfire where everyone else was and we watch more and more people getting drunk and more drunken arguments begin.

I hear Ethan's phone go off and I look to see him pull it out of his pocket and check it. I assume it was a text message.

"What's wrong?" I question when I notice that Ethan begins frowning darkly.

"Huh?" he glances up at me, "Oh, nothing. Aiden just needs to talk to me quickly."

"Oh, okay."

"Just...stay right here. Okay? I'll be right back."

I nod my head and I watch Ethan take off in search of Aiden. I had planned on listening to his request to stay where I was, but then I saw him enter the forest. Exactly where the howling came from. I quickly glance around and see nobody in sight that I knew. I find myself heading towards the forest in the direction that Ethan has gone. It's pretty dark in there when I enter, but I follow the trail that leads farther in. I can faintly see foot prints on the ground while I'm walking and I begin to follow them, hoping that they are Ethan's and they lead me to him and Aiden.

The chill begins to pick up after I'm walking for a few minutes and I pull my phone out to see that I have no missed calls or messages. I put my phone back in my pocket and continue walking. Suddenly, I get the eerie feeling that I am being watched. I hear the leaves rustling around me and I can't tell exactly which direction that it is coming from.

"Who's there?" I call out nervously.

Nobody answers and instead the rustling grows louder.

"This is funny!" I yell, "Come out!"

I hear faint laughter coming from my left and I turn in time to see a man come out from behind a tree. I recognize the man from a few days ago. He's the man I saw Isaac talking to outside the school. I step back and the man just smiles at me, but he sort of looks bored. I hear another rustling sound from behind me and I quickly turn and see Scott appear with Isaac right behind him. However, they seem different. Their eyes are a golden colour. Well, Isaac's are. Scott's are a red colour. The feeling that I had earlier returns and I duck in time when they come barrelling forward and I look up to see them go after the man on my left. My heart is beating like crazy and I pull my phone out to call for some help when a hand closes over my wrist before I can. I glance up to see that it is Ethan and I smile in relief. I glance behind him to see Aiden appear as well, but I almost shriek when I notice that his eyes are pure red as well. I turn to Ethan and see his eyes are the same.

"I told you to stay back with everyone else," Ethan tells me.

I'm too shocked to find any words to say to him. I feel him let go off my wrist and they both glance at me one last time before running in the same direction that Scott and Isaac after that man. I'm about to go after them when I hear more rustling.

"Danny! Don't go after them!"

I turn my head to see that Stiles has now appeared where Ethan and Aiden were just moments ago.

"What the hell is going on?!" I question him.

"I can explain it all to you. But, you need to come with me. Okay? Just follow me!" he exclaims. I nod at him and begin following him quickly through the forest. I could hear more howls in the distance.

"Where are we going?" I ask Stiles, who slowed down slightly and was now walking beside me.

"First, to my jeep and you're car which I see that you just got back from the shop. Then to my house. Do you think you can follow me?"

I nod, "Yeah, I can."

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	4. Truth Comes Out

**Chapter 4 – Truth Comes Out**

The moment that the door is closed and I am sitting on Stiles' bed, all the questions that I had from my head disappear. I have no idea what to say about what I just witnessed in the forest. What am I supposed to say? How am I supposed to act towards everyone now?

Stiles walks to the computer chair and sits down in it, before rolling closer to the bed to where I am sitting, until he is almost directly in front of me.

"My dad is at work for the night. It's just us," he offers after a few moments of silence.

I nod my head to let him know that I heard what he had said.

"Danny," Stiles begins, "what you saw tonight-"

"My boyfriend is a monster," I state calmly.

"Dude, not that I don't agree with you on that part, but let me finish...alright? What you saw tonight...you can't tell anyone. No one can know about Ethan or Aiden and Scott and Isaac. Do you understand?"

I nod my head, while in the process still trying to make sense of everything. How could I have not seen this? How could I have been so blind?

"Danny? Hellooooo?"

I snap out of my thoughts and swipe the hand away that Stiles was waving in front of my face.

"Sorry. I'm just trying to process everything."

Stiles nods his head sympathetically and waits for me to gather my thoughts. After a few more minutes, I decide to voice some of the questions I have.

"What exactly are they?" I ask.

"Werewolves. And because I know you are going to ask about the eye colours, werewolves that have the gold in their eyes like Isaac's are the betas, while the alphas are the werewolves that have the red coloured eyes, like Scott, Aiden and Ethan," Stiles explains.

"How long have you known about this?" I ask. From the way that Stiles is acting, he has had to have known about this for a while now.

"Since after Scott got bitten. I got involved through Scott and he got bitten by the man that they were chasing through the forest tonight."

"Who was he? I've seen him before...outside of the school," I state, recalling the memory of seeing him with Isaac and Isaac running off when he seen me watching.

"Peter Hale. He was the alpha beforehand because he killed the previous alpha who was his niece and Derek Hale's sister."

"God this is confusing," I complain, "Okay, I want you to explain everything to me."

"Alright," Stiles agrees.

"I mean it Stiles. Everything. Especially since this has to do with my boyfriend and I'm going to assume my best friend as well." There was no way that Jackson was not involved in this somehow.

"Don't worry Danny, I'll start from the beginning," Stiles reassures me. He leans back in his chair and props his legs up onto the bed beside me while I get into a more comfortable position by crossing my legs and leaning forward towards Stiles.

"The night that it started was when I came to Scott's house to drag him into the forest to look for the dead body that I overheard my dad talking about. Scott was hesitant to come at first, but he eventually agreed. We were wandering in the woods when the police dogs found us first. Scott hid behind a tree when my dad came out into view. I told him it was only me there and that Scott was at home. He believed me and walked me back to my jeep, and I left Scott in the forest to head home by himself. I wasn't there for some of this, so I'm completely going by what Scott has told me. He basically told me that he heard a bunch of noises and like a completely normal person, he ran. But the beast, who we later discovered was a wolf, attacked him and bit him. He showed me the bite the next day at school and we joked that it was a wolf. We went to the forest later that day to look for Scott's inhaler that he dropped the night before and that's when we ran into Derek Hale.

"Derek Hale?" I've heard his name before, and I get a weird feeling that I have met him before.

"You know, my cousin Miguel? God," Stiles exclaims beginning to laugh. "That day was hilarious! The look on you and Derek's faces were priceless!"

"Stiles," I roll my eyes, but smile at bit at the memory from only a few months ago. The way that Stiles and the Derek guy were acting makes more sense to me now. "Continue."

"Right," Stiles continues, "Derek appears out of no where and has his usual frown on his face. He starts claiming that we were on private property. Which I guess we were now that I think of it. We were on the Hale property. After I apologize to him, he hands Scott back his inhaler and walks away. It was a few days later when Scott began having strange things happen to him."

"Like what?" I question curiously.

"Well, first of all, he got better hearing. He was able to hear Allison talking on her cell phone from outside the school before she came into the classroom on her first day. He also got faster skills, which helped him in lacrosse. Which we both know pissed Jackson off to no end." I smile at the memories of Jackson ranting to me about how much Scott was improving suddenly.

Stiles continues. "The thing that got me curious was that he no longer had his asthma. He didn't need his inhaler, and I found that really strange, so I did a bunch of research and I came across the werewolf theory again. Scott, of course, freaked. But, he finally believed me and I began trying to help him out the best I could. He had Derek too, but I didn't really trust Derek at the time. There's a lot to explain, a lot of it has to do with stuff with Derek and stuff that happened with him years ago...I don't even know the whole story about that. But long story short for the first little while Scott was adjusting, Jackson had gotten more suspicious and even began asking for the bite-"

"Wait! He actually asked for it!?" Why would Jackson want something like this to happen to him? Why would he want this life? However, almost immediately I could think of a reason. Power. Scott obviously gained power and strength when he got bitten and Jackson has always felt like he needed more power and strength.

"Yeah, but hold on, I will get to that. There's more to the story with that. Anyway, Derek got shot with a wolfs bane bullet and I was left dealing with it, while Scott was with Allison trying to get the bullet to cure Derek."

"How would the bullet that harmed Derek, cure him?"

"I'm not too sure. I think Derek said there was something inside that would help him if it was placed in the spot where he got shot. But yeah, I helped him, almost had to saw off his arm-"

"Wait, what?!"

"Oh, it was scary! I thought I was actually going to have to do it. He kept saying that it was either that or the bullet. If we waited much longer for Scott, he could have died. But Scott got there and we healed Derek. Then it wasn't too long after that Peter began coming around more. He was building his pack, which was the reason why he bit Scott, in order to have him and Derek join him. But they wouldn't."

Stiles pauses for a moment and I can tell he is thinking about what else there is to tell me. "Allison found out that Scott was a wolf and that her family are hunters," Stiles continues. "Her aunt Kate took Derek hostage and was torturing him, but Scott got him out. Peter was the one in the school the night that I was trapped in there with Scott, Allison, Lydia and Jackson and he was the one who bit Lydia at the dance. I was there, but in order for him not to kill her, I went with him to track Scott and Derek while I called Jackson to get Lydia to the hospital-"

"Because, even if they were broken up, he still loved her," I interrupt. Despite the way that Jackson and Lydia acted towards each other, especially in public, they both really loved each other. I remembering seeing it in Jackson's eyes, and even now when we talk I know that he really misses her; though he will probably never admit that.

"Yeah," Stiles agrees and then continues, "I went with Peter and we were tracking them. Peter asked me for the bite, but I said no even though he was pointing out all of the benefits of having it, that is if it didn't kill me. But, I didn't want to be like them, so I said no."

"You actually refused and he did nothing?" I asked. If that was the case then Stiles had been extremely lucky.

"Yeah. Trust me I was surprised too. Anyway, Peter left to go after them and I went back to the hospital where Jackson was. Allison's father cornered us, but we got away and went to the Hale house where everyone else was. From what it seemed like, Kate Argent attacked Scott and Derek while they were running towards the Hale house, and Peter ended up killing Kate and spared Allison's life. We threw this glass of chemicals at Peter when Jackson and I got to the house...the chemicals were these weird stuff that Lydia mentioned the night in the school...I think it was Molotov cocktail...or something like that, and he lit on fire. Scott was begging Derek not to kill Peter and to let Peter die naturally."

"Why? Why would that matter?"

"Oh...right, forgot to mention that. We thought that there was a cure. That if Peter died by natural force then the bite would reverse, and Scott would go back to being a normal human. We don't even know if that was possible or not, it was just a theory. But, Derek didn't listen and killed Peter himself, which by doing that made him the Alpha and by being the Alpha, that gives you the power to give others the bite as well."

"Wow... that's a lot."

"Ha!" Stiles exclaims, "that's not even the half of it. After that, things went back to normal...well not really. Scott was forbidden to see Allison, but they did anyways behind her parents back." That explained why they always seemed to be sneaking around at school.

"I guess that Jackson kept on approaching Derek for the bite, and approached him again right after he became the alpha and asked. Derek actually stupidly-no offence since Jackson is your best friend- gave him the bite. Derek began building a pack, but he never forced them. He seemed to go for the people who were upset, who were broken. He went for Isaac first, and then Erica and lastly Boyd. He soon had a pack, and believe me they were not the nicest. But, they all had the choice and were warned about the hunters." I recall the memory of Isaac and Erica returning to school with a whole new found of confidence and Boyd joining the lacrosse team for that game. I'll never admit it to anyone, but Isaac actually kind of scared me at first.

"We all found out that Jackson was bitten by Derek, but strange things began happening. Do you remember? The weird killings at the club, you were paralysed that night as well."

"Yeah, I remember," I state recalling the memory of being wheeled into the ambulance later that night and having the police take my fake I.D.

"Yeah! Well, Derek was convinced it was Lydia since she seemed to be immune to the bite that Peter gave her, but she was still acting weird. But, after a few test and fights, it was revealed that it was Jackson that was the one killing people."

"Jackson was killing everyone!?" I exclaim. I had trouble containing my shock. How had I never noticed everything going on with Jackson? He's my best friend and all this conflict has happened.

"Whoa! Come down, let me explain," Stiles quickly says.

I nod for him to continue.

"He was this thing called the Kanima, which is something that takes the shape of the person you are. The kanima however, was being controlled by someone else, which was Matt at first, but then he died and then Allison grandfather Gerard was the mastermind behind it all. Anyways, he makes a deal with Scott but we don't find that out until the final battle. Gerard was the one who kidnapped me after the lacrosse game last year. It was for some sort of meaning to Scott...I don't know. But, Erica and Boyd were there too and they watched me get hurt. But they got out afterwards by Allison's dad. Um, and afterwards when I was home Lydia came to my house crying about Jackson and how she wanted to go save him because he wasn't dead. I said no at first but as usual I gave in and we ended up there. I smashed my jeep through the wall. Long story short, Scot tricked Gerard and had his pills filled with mountain ash -

"Mountain ash?

"Yeah, it this stuff that can really harm werewolves. Anyways, he replaced the pills and that ended up hurting Gerard as he just got the bite from Derek because he wanted to cure his cancer. Gerard disappears, and Lydia saves Jackson but then Derek and Peter killed him. Oh, yeah, Peter somehow came back to live and began helping us, but I'll get to that. We thought Jackson was dead, until he stood up and let out a wicked howl. Turns out he got what he wanted, Lydia and he was now a werewolf. But, Gerard's body disappeared."

"Wow...that's a lot. And there's still more?"

"Oh yeah. Lots more where that came from. The summer went by pretty fast, things were normal. Derek, Isaac and Peter were looking for Erica and Boyd because they had gone missing. I guess Isaac had been chased by Aiden and Ethan and he ended up in the hospital."

"Okay, so wait. How are Ethan and Aiden involved in this?" I wanted to know exactly how my boyfriend was involved in this, and what he was actually like.

"Well, when they first came around, they were part of the evil Alpha pack and they were held bent on making things difficult for Derek, especially one of the Alphas in the pack, Kali. They are called the Alpha Pack because every single member in that group was an alpha and they killed every other member of their pack in order to become more powerful."

"Wait, Ethan and Aiden did this?"

"Well, except for them. Apparently they just killed their Alpha and they became the alphas. But, you'll have to ask him to explain that to you."

"Oh."

"But, anyways back to Isaac. Somehow one of the other Alphas, Ennis, in the alpha pack got him and was trying to kidnap him as well. Scott came though and then I guess Derek did too. And then I remember Scott telling me to meet him at Derek's old house afterwards, after the whole bird crashing through the windows happened in English." I get a brief flashback of that moment. I had been in the bathroom at the time, but I remember coming back into the room and seeing what had happened. It had been hard to wrap my head around the fact that a whole cluster of birds would just crash into the window.

I tune back in as Stiles begins speaking again. "So I get there, Derek gives Scott a tattoo because Derek I guess owed him and then Scott and I find out that Derek has been keeping his knowledge of the alpha pack a secret from us. And of course Scott demands to help Derek. So things carry on, Derek and Scott rescue Boyd and discover that Derek's sister Cora was also in the vault, which was where they were being kept. He had no idea she was alive-"

"He thought she was in the fire?"

"How-" Stiles begins to ask, his eyes widening.

"I'm not stupid Stiles, I remember hearing about the Hale fire." Did everyone really think I was that clueless?

"Oh, well...yeah I knew that."

"What about Erica?"

"Umm, well she was uh found, dead," Stiles says, looking away from me.

"Oh..."

"Um, yeah," Stiles appears to be trying to hold back his feelings. From the look on his face I can tell that Erica dying must have been hard for him.

"I'm sorry," I say, hoping to ease some of the pain, but I know it won't.

"It's just finding that out was hard because that was the same night I found out my other missing friend died, her name was Heather."

"Oh, was she-"

"No, no. She has nothing to do with werewolves. I've known her since I was three. Our moms were best friends."

"Oh, that must have been hard." Losing Heather must have been like losing another piece of his mom.

"It is. But yeah, anyways, Cora was alive and we figured that the deaths that were occurring were sacrifices. Virgins being the first ones."

"So, that's why you were freaking out in the locker room. And I just thought you were desperate and lonely."

"Hey! I was concerned about my life!" Stiles exclaims.

"Mhmm," I smile.

"I was in danger at the time!"

"Stiles, continue."

"Fine. Anyways, the sacrifices ended up being more than just virgins. There were Guardians, Philosophers, Healers and Warriors. And we discovered that the person doing this was called a Darach. And, as more and more people kept getting taken and killed, that was more that Lydia had found beforehand. See, we found out that she is a banshee, which I guess is someone who senses death before it occurs."

"Creepy."

"Yeah. And she would find the bodies and tell us. And, remember the creepy motel we were at?"

I nod.

" Well, it caused the werewolves to want to commit suicide. Don't ask me, I don't know how exactly. Lydia found mountain ash on Coach's whistle, which we think made the werewolves want to kill themselves. Ugh, it was scary. Lydia, Allison and I managed to stop Ethan, Isaac, Boyd and Scott from killing themselves."

"So, that's why Ethan was gone from the room for so long," I say. Ethan's sudden departure from the room makes a bit more sense now.

"Yeah."

"That must have been hard for you, to see Scott almost ending his life." Scott and Stiles are really close and I from learning about this whole fiasco, I'm confident in knowing that they would literally do anything for each other.

"Yeah. I felt so shaken up afterwards and I can't stand to think about the what ifs."

"I couldn't image what I would do if anything like that happened to Jackson. I mean, I was pretty freaked when I thought he died last year on the field."

"I know how you feel. But, the three of us saved the day...or night. Lydia claims that she saw someone in the fire afterwards, the fire that Scott was going to cause to kill himself, and it was pretty scary. And when Scott's boss Deaton got taken, and Deaton is in on everything by the way, we had to separate since Kali was going after Derek. Derek and Deaton were fine, but when Lydia, Cora and I got there, Boyd was dead. I could tell Derek blamed himself and still does. Hell, he had to have. He disappeared for a few days and when he came back, he was hell bent on protecting Cora. But, she decided to attack Aiden in the locker room and she got badly injured but that wasn't noticed until she collapsed at my house when we were trying to explain everything to my dad."

"You did? You tried to explain it?"

"Yeah, and he didn't believe me at first. The night of the performance happened and I'm sure you can remember the events of that. And we discovered that the Darach was Jennifer Blake, our English teacher. She tries to kill Lydia, but Scott saves her and my dad shows up and she takes him. Scott and I got to Derek and told him because they had a thing going on. He believes us but we had no choice but to help her. We end up at the hospital, Derek, Scott, Ms Blake and I and the Alpha Pack shows up to kill Jennifer. Peter's there with Cora, and Ms Blake ends up disappearing. But she ends up taking Scott's mom and later on Allison's father. She had all three of our parents and Scott went with the leader of the alpha pack, Deucalion because he said he would help. It felt hopeless then, more bad things seemed to be happening. Eventually Deaton told us of a plan. Allison, Scott and I could be surrogate sacrifices in order to get an image of where our parents are."

"Wait, so you three sacrificed yourselves? As in killed yourselves?" That is probably one of the most bravest things that they could have done.

"Yeah. Dying was the only way. We knew what the tree stomp that we near looked like, it was the nemeton, but we couldn't remember where it was. So, we did the sacrifice, we had to drown in an ice bath that Deaton made. Isaac held Allison under water until she stopped breathing and Lydia did the same with me and Deaton with Scott. It worked, and that we ended up waking up and Ethan came to help us. So I don't really know what happened when Lydia went with Ethan but I know that Kali died, Derek and Cora came back, and Ethan and Aiden almost died, all by the hands of the Darach. I know that on my way to go with Allison and Isaac to the nemeton, I crashed my jeep and woke up a little later and helped saved the nemeton which was located underground from caving in, because of the energy that Jennifer was creating. We saved out parents and Jennifer appeared to have died, except her body disappeared as well. And Scott became the true Alpha, which is an Alpha that doesn't haven't to steal the power, it grows within them. Derek left town with Cora to start over and things have been quiet so far, until recently when it seems that Peter is up to something."

"Wow, that's...um...a lot."

"Yup," Stiles says while adding a pop sound to the end of the word, "Any questions?"

My mind seemed to be in a fog, with all of the new information being absorbed. "Um, what happened to Gerard?"

"Oh, well he survived and is in a nursing home at the moment."

"Oh." I was expecting something not so...normal.

"Yeah, not too exciting for him being so evil and all."

"Yeah...well...it seems that there was a lot more exciting stuff going on now, wasn't there?"

"That's a nice way to put it," Scott comments while making his way into Stiles' room and taking a seat beside me on the bed.

"Do you guys just walk into each other's houses without knocking?" I ask after noticing that Scott letting himself in doesn't seem to affect Stiles.

"Oh, yeah. All the time." They both end up saying at the same time. I smile at them, and the memories that it reminds me of with Jackson.

"That reminds me of Jackson," I mention, "I used enter his house at night because his mom forgot to lock the back door."

Scott and Stiles smile at my mention of Jackson, which seems odd at first since they don't really get along with him.

"How- um...how is he doing?" Scott asks me.

"He's doing alright. He seems to be really liking London."

"What about you?" Stiles questions.

"Um, it's hard. You know, the time difference and all. And I was so used to him being here so it's been hard to adjust," I reply.

"Well, you know you got us," Stiles says.

"Thanks," I smile at him. It makes me happy to know that I seem to be gaining a friendship with them.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. Surprisingly, it's not as weird and awkward as it would have been months ago. It's almost comfortable in a way. I'm just trying to collect my thoughts about everything that has been happening and Scott and Stiles seem to be more than glad to wait for me begin speaking.

"Sorry," I tell them when the silence seems to be stretching on. "I'm just trying to absorb everything."

They both nod at me and continue to wait. Stiles stretches his arms above his head and Scott shifts a bit on the bed as well.

"So, I'm guessing that everything that has happened has something to do with the reason why Jackson didn't seem entirely heartbroken about leaving Beacon Hills and moving to London?" I finally ask. It is all beginning to make sense to me now. The way that Jackson didn't really object to leaving. Like, I know he was upset to leave me and Lydia, but that seemed to be it.

"I guess. We're not really sure. We do know that Derek taught him how to control himself on the full moon and stuff and to not attack anyone," Scott answers my question.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Stiles says and then turns to Scott, "have you mentioned anything to Derek?"

"No... do you think I should?" Scott questions.

I roll my eyes at that question. I just found out everything and I don't even know everything and even I know that he needs help.

"Um, as much as I hate to admit it, but yeah... we need his help. Derek needs to know about Peter. Especially since he and Cora just left him here with us," Stiles exclaims.

Scott nods and Stiles and I watch as he pulls out his phone and I assume scrolls for Derek's number. He puts the phone to his ear and I am kind of glad he doesn't put it on speaker. I feel weird enough in this situation and I would feel even weirder actually hearing Derek's side of the conversation. I mean, I only met the guy once...and he was introduced as a completely different person. Miguel. I feel myself smiling at the memory of that day. Helping Stiles that day wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I mean, Derek is hot. Stiles trying to set us up was embarrassing, but funny at the same time.

"Hey. It's Scott," Scott says.

"Duh," I hear Stiles mutter and I would have to agree with him; there is caller id these days.

"Oh, so are you busy?"

Scott listens to Derek's answer.

"No? Okay, so how are things there?" Scott asks. I lay back on Stiles' bed and just wait as Scott continues to talk with Derek.

"That's good. Um- here things aren't that good. It's Peter...he has some sort of plan."

"I assume it would have to do with the alpha status and about me being the alpha now. But, we don't know what exactly he's planning." Scott looks at both Stiles and me.

"Yeah, Isaac has spoken to him a few times, but he's got nothing. And just tonight, he targeted Danny in the woods, and Isaac and I along with Ethan and Aiden, chased him, but we lost him." The memory of earlier tonight flashes through my mind. I am really lucky to be alive right now. I can't believe all that has been going on around me and with the people that I care about.

"I don't know, we just lost him. But anyways, Danny knows now and Stiles explained everything to him."

"You don't know who Danny is?" Scott asks with a hint of confusion.

Stiles motions for Scott to hand him the phone.

"Hey," Stiles says once the phone is in his hand, "Danny is the one who helped us trace the phone number. Yeah – him. He's Jackson's best friend; he won't say anything."

Stiles pauses to listen to Derek's reply. "Yes, I'm sure. We can trust him. Anyway, here's Scott again. Later Derek, or shall I say Miguel." Stiles bursts out laughing at, I assume Derek's reaction to the name and hands the phone back to Scott. Scott continues talking to Derek for a few more minutes before promising to update him and ending the call.

"So, is he coming back?" Stiles asks. I move back into a sitting position.

"Um, not quite yet."

"Why not?" I find myself asking.

"He will come back. But, we both feel that we should wait it out a bit longer so that we can hopefully find out what Peter is planning and then go from there," Scott reassures us.

"Well, how long is a bit longer?" Stiles asks impatiently.

"Only about a week. Derek has to deal with some things back there first and then he is going to come back quietly without Peter knowing," Scott explains.

"Well, what about Danny then?" Stiles asks.

"What about me?" I ask. What did I have to do with this?

"Well, he seemed interested in you tonight. We should probably keep an eye on you just in case something happens," Stiles explains to me.

I see Scott nod in agreement to Stiles' statement and I find myself wondering; am I someone that Peter wants?

"I just found out, I don't want to be someone's target."

"Well, unfortunately we are talking about Peter. He doesn't give anyone a choice in what they want. He does whatever pleases him," Scott states to me bitterly. From the tone of his voice, he appears to hold a grudge against Peter. But, from the sounds of everything that I found out, who can really blame Scott? Peter sounds awful.

"So, what should I just watch out for him? Try to stick with someone when I am not at home? The buddy system?" I ask with a hint of sarcasm in my tone. After the words leave my mouth, I notice that I am starting to sound like Stiles. I glance at Stiles and see him slightly smile at my tone. He's seems to have the same thought as me, but he ends up nodding along with Scott.

"That may be a good idea. Just to be safe. We will all do it," Scott replies.

I nod at his idea because somehow I know that there's going to be someone around me at all times whether or not I agree to it.

"And you should talk to Ethan soon," Scott adds, "He wanted to come with me here, but I told him to wait. He wants to explain everything Danny."

"I know. I will talk to him," I promise.

The rest of the night is spend on Scott filling me in on some of the information that Stiles left out and by the end of the night my head feels like it is pounding with all of the new information. The sheriff ends up coming home with some explanation about it being a slow night and someone is covering for him and Scott and I end up leaving at the same time so that Scott can follow me to my house to make sure I get there alright. After I am safely home and Scott has driven off, I talk to my parents for a few minutes to tell them good night and then I head up to bed.

Everything comes rushing towards me as I lay in the darkness of my room; all the information that I was told tonight is overwhelming. But, as crazy as it may sound, I am glad that I know about everything now. Who would have thought that the thing that everyone was hiding from me was werewolves.


	5. The Reveal

**Chapter 5 – The Reveal**

I must agree when people say that Mondays are terrible. I glanced down the hallway looking for any sign of Ethan. Or Aiden for that matter. I had come to school planning on facing and speaking to Ethan today. But, the moment I spotted him, I found myself practically running in the opposite direction. Ever since, I've been avoiding him and Aiden all day long. It's not that I don't want to talk to them, I'm just not ready.

"It's too much, too soon," I find myself saying to Lydia, who was standing right next to my locker. So far, I've been at school for half the day and I have not spoken to Ethan once yet. Which seemed to be a surprise since I've already had a few classes with him. He seemed to be keeping his distance.

"I know. Trust me, I know. But, you're going to have to speak to him at some point," Lydia reminds me. 

"I know," I reply. "I just need time to think. It's weird enough already and I didn't have time to prepare for the talk I had with Stiles, I want – need - the time to think of what I am going to say to him."

"Just talk to him soon. He's trying to give you space, but Aiden and I can tell that it is killing him to not be around you," Lydia says and nods her head to someone behind me. I turn my head to where she nodded and notice Ethan and Aiden both standing there. The pained look on Ethan's face was almost enough to make me cave and talk to him, but I withhold the urge to run over to him.

A thought occurs to me.

"Have they heard everything we just said?" I ask Lydia. I remember Stiles mentioning about how when Scott got turned, he got super hearing.

"Uh, yeah," Lydia weakly smiles at me.

"Great," I mumble. I grab the rest of the books I need for the afternoon and my washed clothes for cross country practice after school. I quickly tell Lydia that I'll see her later and head off in the opposite direction to my next class. It's taking a while, but I am learning the mechanics of the whole werewolf deal. However, it's not exactly reassuring to know that Ethan and Aiden just eavesdropped into my whole conversation with Lydia.

The rest of the day seemed to go by pretty fast. Lessons blurred by and the work load was pretty limited for the night. As my feet dragged me back to the locker room after the cross country practice we had, I feel as though there are problems still coming my way.

Some of the guys who were ahead of me pile out of the locker room, most likely opting to shower at home instead, and I head inside towards my locker. Once I have opened it, my eyes fall on the note that Ethan passed me in English class about an hour ago. I picked it up carefully to re-read what he had written.

_**Can we talk after practice?**_

I had been nervous ever since I took Lydia's advice and I nodded my head yes to him. I do want to talk to him, I just don't know what I am going to say to him just yet. It's only been three days since that night and a part of me knows I may have waited longer than necessary to talk to Ethan. He is my boyfriend after all. I let Stiles explain everything to me, but with Ethan it was going to be harder; there's more he has to explain.

I decided to quickly shower at school, putting off the conversation with Ethan a little longer, After a longer than necessary shower, I was changed back into my regular clothes, and I made my way out of the locker room in search of Ethan. Figuring he was probably at his locker, I headed that way.

The hallways were clearing out quickly, as most of the students left in the school were on the team, and it was easier to hear private, whispered conversations. I was about to round the corner to see if Ethan was standing at his locker when I heard a voice. Two voices. Moving my body out of sight, I peaked my head around the corner and spotted Ethan and Aiden at Ethan's locker.

"He's probably still in the showers," I heard Aiden say to Ethan. It took me a moment, but I figured out that the 'he' they seemed to me discussing was me. By the sound of Aiden's voice, it sounded like he was reassuring Ethan; reassuring him that I was indeed meeting up with him.

"Yeah, I guess. I – I just want him to come. He said he was coming." I heard Ethan respond. The desperation in his voice makes me feel a bit guilty for taking my time in the locker room.

"He's going to come Ethan. Don't worry." I spare a glance around the corner at them again in time to see Ethan nod. I quickly hide out of view again, before they can notice that I am standing there. I'm guessing they are very wrapped up in this conversation, or else I am sure with their werewolf hearing I would have been noticed by now.

"So..." I hear Aiden begin. "Have you thought of what you are going to say when he comes?"

"Uh, honestly...not really. Like him, I'm at a totally lost at what to say," I hear Ethan admit quietly. I feel myself wanting to go to him, but I hold off. If he doesn't know what to say either, then what are we going to talk about? It is going to end up being very weird and awkward.

"Well, are you going to tell him everything?" Aiden asks. I stood rooted in my spot and waited for Ethan to respond. I'm curious as to what the 'everything' is.

"Everything?" Ethan seems to be confused.

"I mean – the reason we came here in the first place and began talking to them," Aiden replies.

Who would they come to the school to talk to? The only people they seemed to interact with at the beginning was Lydia and me. Oh my god, we are the 'them' that Aiden just mentioned.

"I can't tell Danny that the only reason I began talking to him and came here to Beacon Hills was to target Derek and Scott. It's going to make it seem like I used him!" I hear Ethan harshly whisper to Aiden. At this point, I was trying to slow my heart rate before I was caught. I just found out the reasons why Scott and everyone hated the twins when they first came here.

"Hey Danny."

I jumped upon hearing the voice behind me. I turn around to see it was Isaac.

I heard a locker door slam shut and suddenly I am faced with Isaac, who was now standing beside me, and Ethan and Aiden, who came around the corner and spotted me and Isaac. I have been caught. But my whole entire body feels numb from the new piece of information that I just found out.

"Danny..." Ethan says shocked. He reaches out a hand towards me and by the look on his face, he knows I heard everything they had just said.

"Don't. Touch. Me." I feel the words come out of my mouth. I could feel the hurt and betrayal bubbling up to the surface and my control on my anger slipping away from my grasp fast.

"Danny." Aiden tries to say.

"Don't!" I yell at him and then direct my focus back to Ethan. "Just don't! Was that all I ever was to you. A game?!"

"No! No! Believe -" Ethan tries, but I cut him off.

"Believe? Don't you DARE tell me to believe you! You're a liar! Both of you!" I continue to yell. There was a moment of silence between the four of us. "Was I ever even your boyfriend?" I ask quietly to Ethan.

"Yes, of course you were. I mean you are my boyfriend! Danny, please listen to me -" Ethan tries to reach for me again, but this time I feel myself physically step back from his hand and scowl towards him. The scowl was the only thing keeping the tears from falling freely down my face. I will not cry in front of them.

"Don't! Stay away from me!" I exclaim before taking off down the hallway. The lockers rush by me as I take off towards the doors. My feet pounding on the floor was the only noise I could hear or even focus on. I'm about halfway down the hallway when I hear a struggle from behind me, followed by a growl. I stop and turn to see Isaac blocking Ethan's path to me. From the looks of it, Ethan was trying to come after me to continue trying to tell me his excuses, and Isaac was actually defending me.

"Let him be. Leave it alone," I hear Isaac tell Ethan. I notice the red in Ethan's eyes appear and I step back in fear. Aiden comes up to Ethan and pulls him away before he could attack Isaac. Aiden and Ethan walk by me and I move away so that Ethan can't attempt to grab my arm on his way by. Before Ethan and Aiden disappear out the doors, I hear Ethan's voice, "I'm sorry." Then they are gone and it is just me and Isaac left in the hallway.

"Thanks," I tell Isaac, who was had moved from his spot and was standing next to me.

"No problem. Ethan just about lost control there."

I nod shakily at him and smile gratefully.

"So..." I begin. It was kind of weird talking to Isaac. He and I have never really interacted much before aside from when the others were around.

"Where are Scott and Stiles?" I ask finding it weird that they hadn't shown up as well and that Isaac was alone.

"Oh, Scott is stuck doing stuff with his dad and Stiles rushed off directly after practice," Isaac replies.

"Well, do you want a ride home then?" I offer.

"Sure." Isaac seemed surprised, but gave me a smile and followed me.

We make our way outside, side by side, and I lead him towards my car. The sun was going to set within an hour or two, so I was eager to get home.

Once I was sitting in the drivers seat and Isaac was in the passenger seat, there was a silence that seemed to fall over us.

"Thanks for this again Danny. Normally I would have just caught a ride with Stiles or Scott."

"It's fine, really. You did defend me quite well back there. You shouldn't have to walk home."

"Well, Ethan should have known you would have found out eventually. It was only a matter of time. He shouldn't have tried to stop you."

"Yeah, well. This is all so honestly stupid. What the hell has my life turned out to be?" I grumble.

"Your life?" Isaac exclaims.

"Yeah...I guess you guys have it worse." I laugh.

"I didn't mean it like that. We all have it bad...just in different ways," Isaac replies.

"Yep. I – I just don't know what to do anymore." I lean my head on the steering wheel, almost tempted to start banging my head off of it. This was all becoming so frustrating. All this new pieces of information seemed to have been piled on me all at once.

"Uh," I grunt after a few moments of silence between Isaac and I. "I guess we should get going. You live at Scott's now don't you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Okay. You know, it's nice of Ms. McCall to let you stay there," I state, while starting the car up and then pulling out the the parking lot.

"Yeah," Isaac replies. From the tone of his voice, he sounded like he has thought that a lot; almost like he sounds guilty in a way.

"We all care about you Isaac. You deserve to have a home," I reassure him. I honestly feel bad for Isaac. He hasn't had the best life, and doesn't even have any family left. Well, real family. He seems to in a way have gotten better than he had before, but it's still sad to think about everything he's been through.

"I know," he smiles. "I know that after Derek kicked me out, if I wasn't able to stay at Scott's, I could have gone to Stiles' as well. Either one of them would have happily let me stay."

"Wait, Derek kicked you out? I had a feeling you lived with him, but I wasn't sure."

"Well, he kicked me out to protect me. Although, I didn't know it at the time," Isaac explains.

"Protect you from what?" I ask curiously, sparing a glance off the road to look at him.

"The Alpha Pack," Isaac states looking me directly in the eyes.

"Seriously? So what, their plan was to come here and hurt everyone in the process. For what though? Cause their alphas?"

"I don't know..."

"Sorry," I said, noticing how uncomfortable Isaac was beginning to get. He seemed to be fidgeting slightly in his seat.

"It's fine. I'm not the biggest fan of them...as you already know."

"More like seen," I stated, remembering the few times Isaac was punching Ethan til he bleed.

Isaac nervously laughs.

"It's fine... I guess," I say. "I actually understand now why you kept on hitting Ethan."

"I only hit him once actually. The first time, it was Aiden. They just made it look like it was me."

"Oh my god. Seriously?" I ask, trying to control the anger I am feeling towards this whole situation. This whole time I thought Isaac was just going crazy.

I make the turn down the street to Scott's house.

Isaac nods his head at my question. "It's a lot isn't it?" he asks.

"Yeah. Let's just say it has been a frustrating few days."

Isaac gives me a small smile and looks out the side window.

"Sorry I ran away from you the other day. I wasn't expecting you or anyone else to really notice me by the forest," Isaac interrupts the silence that had begun to set.

"Well, you all were clearly hiding something and I wanted to know what it was. But – I can see why you were secretly talking to him – Peter. He was actually pretty frightening to me in the woods the other night," I admit. Isaac nods his head in agreement. The memory of Peter standing only steps away from me is still implanted inside my head. What if the others hadn't gotten there in time? What would have happened?

I roll the car to a stop directly in front of Scott's house. I notice a car in the driveway.

"Scott's mom's car. Scott's probably still with his dad." Isaac fills me in once he notices me looking at the car.

"What's his dad like?" I find myself asking. I've known Scott since we were basically kids and I only have a brief memory of what his father looks like. It appeared that once the divorce happened, Scott's dad must have left town.

"Don't even get me started on him." Isaac exclaims. He reaches down by his feet and grabs his backpack from the floor.

"Thanks for the ride again Danny," he says, while opening the door and stepping out.

"You're welcome. See ya tomorrow," I call. I pull away from the house as Isaac heads inside and make my way to my house for a much needed nap.


	6. Who Can I Trust?

**Chapter 6 – Who Can I Trust?**

The library is very quiet today. Ever since the other day, I have been eating lunch either in the library, in the music room, or on the bleachers at the lacrosse field. I switch it up every now and then so that no one can find me. Mostly Ethan. But, even Lydia a bit. Ever since I found out, she has been pushing me to talk to Ethan, claiming that I still don't know the whole story. She even called me ridiculous at one point.

"Hey."

I glance up from my notebook and see Lydia and Allison standing at my table. Lydia doesn't wait for an invite before taking a seat in one of the empty chairs, Allison following her lead.

"What's going on?" I asked as they place books on the table.

"You weren't in the cafeteria," Lydia states.

I look up, "Yeah, and you already know why."

Lydia stares at me for a moment before pulling out her phone and sending a message to someone.

"Who are you texting," I hurriedly ask.

"Aiden," she says casually, glancing up at me.

After seeing my look of disbelief on my face at her texting Aiden, she clarifies, "Don't worry. I'm not telling him where you are. You have just been missing from the cafeteria and we have been getting worried. Ethan has been getting worried."

"Whatever," I state while looking down at my phone and typing a message to Jackson.

**Lydia and Allison are here now. **

A few seconds later, my phones buzzes indicating that Jackson has replied.

** Oh? Is that a bad thing? **

"Hello, are you going to talk to us?" Lydia asks. I can tell she is getting annoyed fast.

"Lydia, stop." Allison tries. I smile gratefully at Allison's attempt.

"No, why are you treating us like we are the bad guys here?" Lydia exclaims.

"Maybe because you are siding with them," I retort.

"I'm not-" Allison begins.

"I know you aren't," I turn to her, "But Lydia is."

"How-" Lydia begins to ask, but I cut her off.

"I'm your friend. I was your friend before you even knew them. Stop trying to get me to talk to him because I don't want to."

Lydia doesn't say anything at all and I turn back to my phone.

I type back.** I wanted to be alone. They seem to think I am being ridiculous for not talking to him and letting him explain. **

** Well... **

I glance at my phone, surprised at his response.

** Seriously? **

I get a reply quickly from Jackson. **Hey, don't snap at me. I'm just saying that Lydia is not going to back off until you listen to her. And take deep breaths before you ending up yelling and doing or saying something you'll regret. **

I take his advice and begin trying to breathe in and out. I count in my head, _one, two, three_. The silence that has fallen at the table between the three of us is overwhelming.

"I'm sorry," I apologize. "It just seems like you're siding with Aiden."

"I'm not. I know what they did was wrong, I just think you should talk to Ethan," Lydia says.

"I- I can't. Not yet," I admit.

"And that's okay," Allison says reassuringly. I smile at her and look at Lydia.

"It's okay. I'll try to stop pressuring you," she tells me.

"Thank you," I say and turn back to my phone.

**Thanks, Jacks. **

He replies a few moments later. ** That's what I am here for. Text me when you get to class. Let me know if he tries to talk to you.**

** What are you going to do all the way from London? **I think of all the possibilities. Talk to Scott or Stiles. Talk to Lydia. Hell, even fly down from London. I laugh at that option.

I glance up briefly to see that Lydia and Allison have started their own conversation and with knowing that, I turn back to my phone. Jackson's response comes almost right as I do so.

** I'd like to be there, but I can't. And I would just convince you to go to McCall or someone. **

** Really? **It's hard to believe that Jackson would willingly ask Scott for anything.

** Yeah, actually. Though it pains me to say that McCall can help you out with the Ethan situation.**

I message Jackson for the remainder of the lunch period while Lydia and Allison engage in other conversation with each other. Soon lunch has ended and we have parted our ways for our afternoon classes.

The after noon classes go by quite fast and I soon find myself at my locker grabbing my books for the last class of the day, which is English. I sigh in relief that I don't have practice after school. It has been a long day and I just want to go home.

Locker doors slammed shut around me and feet thundered the hallways loudly. I looked around and saw the hallway was emptying quickly and I saw no sign of Ethan yet. My eyes scanned the groups of students hurrying to their classes before the final bell rung. Usually, I would already be in class. The longer I stay in the hallway, the more chances Ethan has to ambush me, which he has already tried to do for the last few days. Luckily, someone always ended up being there with me when that happened, or they soon saved me. My favourite was Stiles, who choose to add some few choice words to Ethan while trying to get me away from him. Lydia has been nicer to Ethan about it, though she tries not to. Part of me thinks that since she is my friend, she should be on my side, but the other part of me knows that she doesn't want to be a total bitch to her boyfriend's brother. I wonder how she will act after she promised to try and not pressure me into talking to him.

As I made my way into English class, I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. Seeing that the teacher was not in the class yet, I pulled it out to see that I had a message from Jackson.

**You make it into class alright? **

The thought that Jackson is worried about me brings a smile to my face. Most people think that Jackson doesn't have much of a heart, or that he is just an ass, and even though the second one can be true sometimes, he does care about me at least.

I take a seat behind where Lydia sits and quickly type a response back.

**Yeah I did. No sign of him so far. **

However, I spoke too soon as once I sent that text, Ethan and Aiden strolled into the class. I avert my eyes the moment that Ethan looks directly at me. Instead of heading to his seat on the other side of the classroom, he makes his way directly towards me.

"Hey..."

Instead of acknowledging him, I look down at my phone, waiting to see if Jackson will text me back.

"Danny... please. Let me explain," Ethan pleads with me.

"I'm kind of busy here," I state, wishing that the teacher would walk in and begin class.

"No you're not. You're just staring at your phone," Ethan says. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Ethan kneel down beside me and I feel him place his hands on my legs.

Even though I don't reply and I clearly tense up, Ethan doesn't take the hint that I don't want to talk to him.

"Danny. Please," Ethan continues to plead. The hands he has on my legs stay where they are and I desperately want him to move them, but I don't say anything. I'm not going to cause a bigger scene then we already are.

"Go away," I state nonchalantly.

Ethan was about to open his mouth, but Lydia chose that moment to place her bag on the desk in front of mine.

"You heard him. Go," Lydia says harshly.

I smile at Lydia, happy that she had come.

Ethan was about to say something, but then the teacher chose to come in at that moment. Her name was Ms. Henry. She is the new English teacher that is replacing Ms. Blake, who up until recently I thought was another strange disappearance. I wouldn't want the Darach, or whatever to still be our English teacher though, so I'm fine with this new teacher.

"Everyone take your seat," she calls out. Ethan reluctantly gets up from his crouch and heads back over to his seat next to Aiden. I glance up and see Scott and Stiles make their way into the class, Allison not too far behind. A few more people come in and take their seats.

"Thanks Lyds," I say.

"No problem," she replies, while taking her seat and picking up her phone. I pull out my phone and send off another quick message to Jackson.

**Class is starting now. Talk to you later. **

I place it back into my pocket just as Ms. Henry begins writing an assignment on the board.

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Seeing that Ms. Henry was distracted, I pull it out to see that it was Ethan that texted me.

**Can we talk after school?**

I spare a glance at him and see him and Aiden both watching me.

** Nope. **I type back to him before shutting off my phone and putting it back in my pocket.

"Alright you guys. As I've explained last week, you will all be soon starting to read your own novels. Individually and analyzing the novel you have chosen. But, first we are going to do a small assignment. Sort of an exercise, but I'll be giving you about a week to complete it," she stops to see if someone will ask her before she explains, but no one does.

"What is the one aspect in a book that is very important?"

"The plot line," someone calls out from the back of the room.

"Well yes, but that's not where I was going with this. What is it called when the author wants you to focus on something? When the author tries to convey a message to the readers."

"Theme?" another kid calls out after they are chosen to answer.

"Yes. Theme. That's your assignment. What we are going to do is, in groups of 2 you are going to get a theme assigned to you and it is your job to explain the many possibilities around that theme. It won't be based on any book in particular. You and your partner will have to explore the many ways that theme can happen and how it can fix the original problem in the story."

I looked on the board and noticed that she outlined all the themes that she is going to assign to us. _Friendship, Family, Trust, Forgiveness, Betrayal, _and the list went on. I notice people making plans to work with each other and I look around and wonder who I am going to work with. Everyone I know is already paired off with someone else. This is one of the disadvantages to not having Jackson here anymore.

"Before you get all excited, I am picking your partners for you," she states. I hear a few huffs and groans from a few people in the corner of the room.

"Okay," she picks up a list and begins reading off the names, "Jared and Simon. Lucy and Scott. Stiles and Allison. Ethan and..." I hold my breathe, hoping that my name is not called.

"Jessie." I breathe a sign of relief.

"Daniel and Chad. Lydia and Ariel." Ms. Henry continues to read off a few more names off of her list before she gets to my name.

"Danny and Aiden."

You have got to be kidding me. It was almost like they planned it, I feel six pairs of eyes on me. Lydia has turned around in her seat, and I noticed Allison, Stiles and Scott looking at me. I don't even turn around and I know that the other two pairs of eyes glued into my back are Ethan and Aiden. Ms. Henry finishes reading off the names and people begin talking to their partners. This is just great, being partners with Aiden means that Ethan is bound to find some way to talk to me.


	7. It's Not What You Think

**Chapter 7 – It's Not What You Think**

"So what do you think? Trust can be a theme through the characters actions and emotions?" I ask Aiden, while jotting my idea down onto the paper. Ms. Henry assigned us the theme trust. I found that to be quite a coincidence, considering my situation and the person who I am working with.

"Yeah, that's a good start," Aiden replies. We were in the library working on the assignment. We didn't have much time left because honestly, I put it off almost to the last minute. I've been avoiding Aiden as much as possible, but I do want to get a good mark so I eventually caved. The library seemed to be a good place to work; neutral ground. Of course, we could have worked at my house; I would feel safer after all, but I don't want my parents interfering.

"A character shows trust through how they act and what they say. If they lie then trust can be broken," I say and write that down on the paper.

"So, how should we do this? Perhaps we could do it in categories or a mind map," Aiden suggests.

"I don't care." I honestly don't. The longer I am here with him, the more of the chance that we will get off topic.

"How about categories then. Outlining all the aspects of trust in a novel?" Aiden suggests.

"Sure."

"You know, you could say a bit more," Aiden comments.

"I already gave you an idea a few minutes ago," I retort, not bothering to even spare a glance at him.

"Yeah true, but other than that I've been getting one liners and an attitude from you."

"Excuse me?" I snap.

"You heard me."

"Whatever," I mutter deciding to drop the subject. I honestly don't feel like getting into a fight with him.

"How much longer are you going to ignore him and me?" Aiden comes right out and asks me.

I look up from the notes that I was writing. "I'm not going to sit here and act like I want to be here with you. I would rather be at cross country practice with Finstock then be sitting here at this table with you."

"Honest much," Aiden mutters to himself.

"Someone has to be." I retort.

"You still didn't answer my question," Aiden says after a few moments of silence.

"Which was?" I asked impatiently knowing perfectly well what he was talking about and wishing that he would drop the topic.

"How much longer are you going to ignore us?"

"Don't know," I reply while writing down some more ideas for the assignment.

"Danny-"

"Let's just get this finished." I interrupt him. The sooner we got this finished, the sooner I could leave the library and go home.

"Fine," Aiden says, appearing to be dropping the subject.

I glance around the library and see it emptying. Not many people are normally here after school hours. The librarian glances at everyone from the front desk and then turns back to her computer.

"So, how exactly do you think trust can be broken?" Aiden asks.

"Trust can be broken by betrayal," I state casually.

Aiden looks up from the bristle board and gives me a look.

"That's another theme," he says. That was not what I was expecting him to say though.

"Oh, well it still suits this theme."

"So can forgiveness then," I hear Aiden mutter under his breath. I decided against commenting on that. He's only trying to get me to talk about Ethan.

"Well, how can trust be gained back then?" I asked, quickly moving topics and realizing too late that my idea wasn't very thought out.

"Trust can be gained back if the situation is explained." Aiden says leaping on the opening.

"Okay."

"Communication is key," Aiden continues and the tone of his voice makes me look up from my paper. It was like this whole assignment could be based off the current situation and it was beginning to get frustrating.

"Your point?" I asked, annoyed.

"In order to try and gain trust back, a conversation may need to happen in order to fix things and let some light be shined onto the situation." Aiden clarifies.

"The character may feel as if their heart has been smashed into a million pieces. What if it was the only person they truly thought loved them and cared about him aside from his family and best friend." I reply. The look on Aiden's face made me freeze. Terror ran through me as I realized what I just admitted to him of all people. I haven't told anyone that secret before.

"Danny..." Aiden begins.

I shake my head at him and continue to work on jotting our notes down.

"Danny, you need to talk to him."

"No." I state quietly.

"Then let me explain." Aiden suggests to me.

"No." I find myself saying again, even though the idea was tempting.

"It's not what you think," Aiden pleads.

"Oh yeah, I am sure about that." I reply sarcastically. Aiden seems to give up for the moment.

For the next half hour we work on the assignment silently. Aiden and I split up the work to type up and we met back at the table to put it all together on the board. As we were just finishing up and beginning to pack up, Aiden decides to speak up.

"Are you ever planning on speaking to him?"

"Why should I?" I ask while placing my belongings back into my backpack. The thought of letting Ethan explain has crossed my mind many times before. The part of me that says no, says that he should have told me from the start and that he is like every other guy I've dated. But the other part of me knows that's not true and I feel something different for him than I have for any other guy before.

"Well, maybe because he is your boyfriend." The word boyfriend brings a large ache to my chest and I feel myself beginning to get upset again.

"Well apparently he wasn't," I reply while finishing packing my stuff up.

"You haven't heard him explain," Aiden reminds me.

"Your point?," I ask, not bothering to hid my annoyance at his questions.

"Please talk to him," Aiden says, which sounded a lot like begging.

"Careful now, it sounds like you're begging," I say sarcastically to him. Before he can reply, my phone begins to ring.

Loudly.

I catch the look the librarian shoots me and I quickly turn the volume down. I look down at the screen to see that it was Ethan. My finger moved directly to the ignore option and I pressed down.

"Don't say anything," I warn to Aiden before he can open his mouth. He doesn't have a chance to reply as moments later his phone goes off, but much quieter than mine was. I distract myself by glancing at the librarian and she doesn't seem to even notice that Aiden's phone went off.

"Hey," he hear him answer. I zip up my bag and gather the assignment to put into my locker to bring to class tomorrow.

"Yeah, he's right here," Aiden replies to the other person on the line and hands the phone to me.

"No," I say. I hesitate though. If I don't do this now, then I'm afraid I may never talk to him.

Sighing, I accept the phone from Aiden's outstretched hand. "Hello?" I ask hesitantly.

"Danny!" Ethan's voice carried through the ear pierce. I begin to panicking at the thought of talking to him, and I move to hand Aiden the phone back, but he refuses to take the phone. Reluctantly, I put it back to my ear.

"Hello? Danny?"

"I'm here," I reply. Glancing at Aiden, I see him smiling at me. I give him a glare right back.

"Listen, you need to let me explain," Ethan pleads to me.

"No, I don't," I say and instantly Aiden's smile falls.

"Danny, you don't know the whole story."

"That's what I keep hearing," I reply thinking of the continuous conversation I seem to keep having with Lydia about this whole situation.

"So then just let me -"

"No. I need time Ethan." I admit quietly. I hadn't planned on doing this. The thought of doing this was killing me, but I needed to think and I can't do that and be with him at the same time.

"Time, like..." Ethan says. From the sad tone in his voice, I know that he has realized what I mean by my confession.

"Yeah."

"Your breaking up with me?" Ethan asks me softly.

"Yeah. This is all too much to handle. I thought I could trust you," I tell him.

"You can. Danny-" Ethan pleads, but I cut him off.

"Bye," I say before hanging up the phone. I handle Aiden the phone back and begin walking out of the library.

"Danny!" Aiden calls to me.

"I need space. Leave me alone." I say quietly knowing he would hear me. I don't even turn around to look at him. I walk quickly out the doors of the library and head to my locker.

Once I am seated in my car, five minutes later, I feel all my emotions coming to the surface. I can't believe that I just broke up with him. I feel my throat tighten up and I desperately try to stop the tears that I know are coming. I feel my heart breaking with the thought that I just ended things with him and I almost want to reach for my phone and call him back to tell him that I didn't mean it. But I don't. This has all been thrust upon me and I think that the only way I can accept all this is if I take the time to learn more about everything to do with werewolves. Maybe if I actually try to help them out then I can talk to Ethan and try to work things out. Just... right now I can't.

* * *

**A/N: Wow! Another chapter is done! It feels like I honestly just started this story. Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that this story will be coming to an end soon. I have many chapters already written and so I will be posting more than likely everyday. Not to worry though! There is still about 8 more chapters to come before it will be done. With the rate I am going, it will be done before season 3b premieres on Monday, January 6th. **

**So with that, fill free to leave a review! :) **


	8. I Need My Friend Here

**Chapter 8 – I Need My Friend Here**

"So, how are you?" I ask Jackson. I look at the computer and see that Jackson was giving me one of his famous 'are you serious' looks.

_"I'm fine. But, the question is, how are you?" _

I shrug. "Eh. I've been better."

Jackson doesn't say anything and I focus my attention on the corner of my computer monitor. I really didn't want to go to school today. I honestly just wanted to stay home and in bed all day. If I thought that Lydia was bugging me before about Ethan, she sure as hell would be now and I don't have the patience to deal with it.

"I broke up with Ethan," I say after a few moments of thinking.

_"What?"_ Jackson asks me quite surprised.

"Yup. I was working with Aiden in the library and Ethan called him and asked to speak to me."

_"And, you agreed and then broke up with him?"_

"Yeah. It just came out before I had time to think," I reply. The memory keeps sticking in my head and if I was being honest I felt a bit off about the decision. I don't know if I really wanted to end things with him.

_"Oh? So if this is for the best, then why are you so upset?"_

"Because...because I think I actually like him. Not like the other guys I've dated -" I begin to say before Jackson decides to cut me off.

_"Yeah those guys were losers."_

"As I was saying," I said giving Jackson a look. "I actually think I love him. Ugh... this is killing me Jackson."

_"So now what are you going to do?"_

That was a good question. What was I going to do? Avoid everyone for the rest of my high school existence? Avoid Lydia because Lydia interaction would give me Aiden interaction and eventually Ethan interaction would occur. Maybe I could spend the rest of my life alone or even with Scott and Stiles. They both don't seem to enjoy Ethan and Aiden's company that much.

I run my hands across my face and then look at Jackson.

"I told him that I needed time think. This has been a lot to take in Jackson."

_"I know," _he says sympathetically. _"I should have told you everything from the start. I've tried to protect you from it."_

"Yeah I know. The strange comment you said to me last year makes more sense to me now. Telling me to run the other way if you came towards me."

_"Yeah... well I would have felt bad about killing my best friend. Plus I was really out of it."_

"Yeah, I remember how strange you were acting. But anyway, you couldn't have told me anything. It really wasn't your secret to tell. It was Scott's. It all started with him."

_"Actually, it technically started with Peter."_

"True."

_"Anything happen with him recently?"_ Jackson asks.

"Thought you would have asked Scott or someone?"

_"I actually did. They said it has been quiet. I just didn't know if you have seen anything?"_ Jackson says and gives me the 'I know you know something' look.

"Well, before I found everything out, I always had a feeling I was being watched," I admit.

_"What?"_ I see Jackson's eyes widen. _"Why didn't you mention this before?"_

"I didn't think it was a big deal."

_"Danny!"_ Jackson exclaims.

"What?" I was confused as to why this was a big deal.

_"Shit! This may not be nothing!"_

"Okay?" I ask confused.

Jackson huffed from his side and seemed to be thinking deeply. A thought occurs to me. Stiles told me everything that Peter Hale has done; killing his niece, turning Scott and using Lydia to come back to life, being at the top of the list. It may not be a coincidence that I feel like I am being watched. I saw Peter outside of the school and I saw him directly in the forest the night I found everything out. Could it be that Peter is still plotting? Jackson only seems to get more worried after I voice these thoughts and questions to him.

"Jackson..." I say slowly. "Should I be worried?"

_"Maybe,"_ he says looking up to meet my eyes.

A silence fell over us as we both pondered this new possibility and discovery. My alarm on my phone went off and I looked at the time and saw that I had to begin heading to school.

I sigh. "Um... I have to go. I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

Jackson huffs, more than likely at the thought of me heading to school on my own, which I was not exactly happy to be doing it, considering I could be a target. _"Okay. Talk to you later."_

"Bye," I tell him before cancelling the chat and grabbing my bag before heading to school.

It's not long before I am sitting in first period and waiting for class to begin. I'm sorting my notebooks out when I feel my phone buzz in my pocket. It was from Jackson.

**Hey. Do me a favour and stick near McCall and Stilinski. **

I type back a response.

** Okay sure. **

If I was being honest, Jackson's request didn't seem as strange to me as it normally would have. And considering the conversation I had with him this morning, I was more than happy to do what he says.

Later that day, during music class, I found myself in the bathroom. Scott had just been leaving when I walked in and he stayed for a few minutes to talk to me before heading back to class. He kept asking me if I was okay, which made me want to laugh hysterically because I am not. I am far from okay. He appeared to not have heard mine and Jackson's suspicions about Peter yet. I was leaving that up to Jackson to tell. I guess I could have told him, but I don't feel like getting more into the possible theories. He left after that and I had slumped against the sinks.

Surprisingly, Lydia had barely said anything about the Ethan situation. She has to know though because there is no way Aiden did not tell her. It was almost the thought of her bringing it up any moment that drove me out of that class before I had a complete breakdown. I don't know what was more stressful; figuring out that my paranoia about being watched was actually justified, or the fact that I felt bad about breaking things off with my boyfriend, who lied to me throughout our whole relationship.

I leaned over the sink and resisted the urge to scream. I splashed cold water on my face and looked into the mirror as the only other kid in the washroom left with the door slamming shut behind him quickly. Seconds later the door reopens and I hear someone else walk in. I turn my attention back to the sinks not even glancing at the person who entered.

I hear a throat clear from direction behind me. I look up into the mirror and see Ethan standing behind me. He wasn't actually touching me, but he was in arms reach.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, turning around to face him.

"I was just taking a break from class," Ethan tells me calmly.

"Oh."

"I guess you're doing the same," Ethan notes.

"Yup." I straighten up my body and stop leaning against the sinks behind me. Ethan doesn't try to move any closer to me and stays where he is. A silence falls upon us and it was completely uncomfortable. It was almost like we were in a face off; waiting for the other to break first. Eyes locked, mouths closed and bodies straight.

"So, bye," I say after a few minutes and walk past him to the door.

"Wait," I hear him say and he grabs a hold of my arm gently.

"What?" I turn to him and pull my arm out of his grasp more roughly than I had intended to do so.

"I'm sorry." Ethan sounds utterly broken up and it annoys me because I am the victim in this situation, not him.

"For what exactly?" I snap. "Lying to me and telling me nothing was going on when in reality it was freakin' werewolves. Or how about only speaking to me in the first place to get to Scott and Derek and figure out, between Lydia and I, who was more important."

"Danny. I'm sorry about both those things."

I roll my eyes. "Whatever."

"I never had any intention to hurt you," Ethan continues trying to explain to me.

"Too late for that now isn't it?" I reply and the tone of my voice seems to bother him.

"I'm never seen you this way before," he comments.

"What way? Angry? Upset? That's what happens when everything is thrown at you and you find out a shit load of secrets all at once Ethan."

"I know this has been hard for you Danny -"

I cut him off before he can finish that sentence. "Hard for me? Yeah it has. Everyone was lying to me Ethan! My friends!" I stop to take a deep breathe and to try and calm down. "I know they were trying to protect me. I know that. But still. I told you I need time. Please give me time. You owe that to me," I tell him quietly. I turn to leave before he wold have a chance to respond. The guilty expression on his face was upsetting me.

"Watch out." I hear him say as I am a few steps from the door.

I whirl back around to face him. "Excuse me?"

"Watch out." Ethan repeats to me. "Peter is planning something."

"Where did you hear that from?" I ask and watch as Ethan moves towards the sink to lean against it, just as I was doing earlier.

"We've been kind of keeping an eye on Peter for a while now," Ethan tells me. The thought doesn't surprise me; considering I seen them all go after Peter in the forest. However, something tells me there is more to the story.

"And Scott told me," Ethan adds when he notices my doubt.

"How did Scott know?" I question even though I had a pretty good guess.

"He heard it from your friend Jackson, I think?"

"That was fast..." I mumble under my breathe. I guess Scott did know after all.

"What was fast?" Ethan asks. I forgot for a moment that he would still be able to hear me.

"I literally just told Jackson that this morning," I explain. I'll have to thank Jackson later. I'm glad that he told Scott for me; he saved me from having to do that. And I'm grateful that Scott didn't mention anything to me when he was in here. I really didn't want to deal with this today.

"Well I guess he is worried then," Ethan comments.

"Yup."

"Just promise me you will be careful," Ethan requests.

"Fine. I will." I agree.

"Thank you." Ethan smiles at me. Before I stop myself, I feel myself smile a bit. When I realize what I am doing, it falters and Ethan frowns a bit as well.

"Uh, I should get back to class now. Before I get in trouble..." I say inching towards the door.

"Oh... okay," Ethan says, disappointed. "See you."

I nod and quickly turn to leave the bathroom. I rush down the hallway and head back towards my music class. My heart was pounding in my chest at that encounter.


	9. There Has To Be A Way

**Chapter 9 – There Has To Be A Way**

"So where exactly are we going? Where does he even live?" I ask from the backseat of Stiles' jeep. We were heading to explore Peter's place that he was currently living at.

"He lives in an apartment downtown . Though for him, a network of caves would have suited him better. He even said that to me once...though he was being sarcastic," Stiles comments.

From the passenger seat, Lydia snorts at the idea.

"So who tracked him here anyway?" I ask curiously.

"Uh, well it was Scott and Isaac first and then Aiden and Ethan did as well. Just to make sure that Peter went to the same place."

Ever since the new discovery that Peter may be targeting me, all of the werewolves have been following Peter and have been on high alert for anything to happen. I have practically had a body guard ever since.

I look out the window and watch as the houses and stores rush by us. It was a nice day out today. It's been raining for the past few days, so a sunny day is very welcoming. More stores past us, and I watch as groups of teens walk down the busy sidewalks.

I can faintly hear Stiles' tapping his hands on the steering wheel and Lydia typing away at her phone. I begin to fidget as it becomes clear that we were getting closer to Peter's hideout. The jeep stops at a few more lights before Stiles' turns down another street. A few minutes later, he pulls up to a curb and cuts the engine. Silently, the three of us climb out of the jeep and make our way towards the building that we pulled up in front of. The building looks fairly normal from the outside. The paint doesn't seem to be rusting or anything. I'm pretty sure I spotted a garden as we walked inside the front doors. So far, it doesn't seem like a place Peter Hale would even live. I don't even know the guy and this doesn't seem to suit him. But, then again, you have to keep up appearances, don't you. I've found that out the hard way.

The elevator ride was short and we soon made it to the third floor, where we were told he lived.

"How do we know he is not here?" The last thing I'm looking forward to, is Peter coming back and finding us in his apartment. It's not like Lydia, Stiles or I have super werewolf hearing. We wouldn't hear him coming until it was too late.

"Peter apparently went to see Derek and Cora today. Scott and Isaac are following him though." Stiles says as we make our way down the hallway, looking for apartment number 304.

"On Scott's motorcycle, which Peter will probably be able to recognize?" I ask. If that was the case, then Peter will be on to us very fast.

"Actually, no. They are borrowing Allison's dad's car," Stiles replies.

"Oh. So do they know we are here?"

I had a feeling they didn't.

"Uh, not really. Scott told me not to come here. And Isaac agreed with him as well."

"Then what are we going to do if Peter does come back and they don't know we are here?"

"Allison knows." Lydia speaks up.

"You told her!" Stiles exclaims. I swear I hear someone tell us to shut up from inside their apartment.

"What?" Lydia raises her eyebrow. "I wasn't about to walk in here blindsided and not knowing if we would run into him. I did it for safety precautions." Lydia says, returning to her phone.

"Ugh," Stiles grunts.

"That's the most you have spoken this whole time. You texting Aiden?" I nod to Lydia's phone in her hands.

She looks towards me and smiles. "I'm texting Allison. She actually went with them to spy on Peter."

"Really? That should be a joyful ride," Stiles comments. We stop in front of room 304 and stare at the door.

"How are we supposed to get in?" Lydia questions Stiles.

"Why are you looking at me?" he asks.

Lydia arches her eyebrow at him and waits.

"Any ideas, anyone?" I ask knowing that we shouldn't be wasting any time.

Lydia searches through her purse and takes out a bobby pin.

Classic breaking and entering tool.

It takes a few moments, but we hear the lock click and Stiles turns the door knob and makes his way inside. Lydia and I follow him and close the door behind us.

"Well, it sure looks nicer than the loft. Must hand it to him, he has better taste than Derek," Stiles comments once we are inside. Though I have never seen Derek's place; Stiles has mentioned his previous living conditions. This apartment actually looks in good condition. There's not much furniture, but it's actually clean and newer looking than what we had expected.

"Anything in particular we are looking for?" Lydia asks. I run my fingers lightly over a few books that we laying out on the coffee table. They looked old and rusty.

"Anything that proves he is up to something," I hear Stiles reply. I look around and see that he isn't even in the room. I glance at Lydia, who I see is wandering around the living room as well. She meets my eyes and shrugs her shoulders. I hear feet pounding and I see Stiles emerge from somewhere else in the apartment.

"Where were you?"

"His bedroom. Nothing too exciting in there."

"Okay. Nothing out here so far." We continue to search in silence, hoping to find any clues. All the apartment seemed to contain was his laptop and old books. I catch Stiles eyeing me as I look at the laptop sitting on the coffee table.

"Do you think-"

"No."

"What, why not? Come on!"

"No. It's too risky."

"What is?" Lydia glances up from her spot near the kitchen.

"Stiles wants me to hack into Peter's computer."

"Oh. Well why not?"

"Well, for starters," I walk over and open up the laptop to see that Peter left it on, but he logged off. "He logged off, and the only way I can get on at the moment is by typing in his password. I can only hack into a system if I have a computer already logged in."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Besides, we're already pushing it with being here in the first place."

"I don't really see what would be on there anyway. Peter seems to already have a plan, and I don't think it involved internet research. Probably some spying, but no research." Lydia comments.

"Spying. How comforting," I mutter under my breath.

Stiles sighs, obviously getting frustrated. "There has to be something that will tell us what he is up to."

"Well..." I begin, thinking. "What does Peter want a lot?"

"Well, besides being alpha again, I don't know." Stiles replies. I few seconds past and he turns to me again. "Oh my god! Scott!"

"What?" I ask confused.

"Scott's the True Alpha. He's the only alpha Peter will dare to go after," Stiles exclaims.

"We need to warn Scott then." Lydia says, coming up to stand beside me.

"Yeah," I agree. I wait for Stiles to agree, but when I look at him, he seemed to be in deep thought.

"What is it?"

Stiles doesn't reply.

"Wait." A thought just occurred to me. "What would Peter want with me."

"That's what I am trying to figure out," Stiles replies. "Maybe – maybe he's trying to complete his mission from before."

"Before what?" Lydia and I ask at the same time. I look at her and we exchange a smile.

"Before, when he was the alpha. Peter had a plan to build a pack. That's why he bit Scott. He spent all that time trying to get Scott and Derek into his pack. He even asked me if I wanted the bite."

"He did?" Lydia asks.

Stiles nods his head. "Yeah. So, maybe that is what he is trying to do."

"He wants to be an alpha again. So once he steals it back, he's going to build his pack," I say. "He wants me apart of his pack, doesn't he?"

"I think so," Stiles replies. We were all trying to think of our next course of action when we heard a loud bang from outside. I run to the window and glance out of it. There was nothing there. I turn back to look at Stiles and Lydia, who both are on alert.

"We should get out of here," Lydia tells us. Stiles and I both agree with her and we quickly make our way towards the door, while making sure that everything was how Peter left it.

"Wait," I call to Stiles as he is the first person out of the apartment.

He turns back to me. "What?"

"Isn't Peter going to know we were here? Our scent is probably all over the place."

"Right." Stiles reaches inside his pocket and pulls out a baggy of powder. The powder was a clear colour and it was hard to see it. He puts his hand inside, grabs a handful and starts throwing it over the floor of the apartment.

"What are you doing?" Lydia questions from the doorway.

"Deaton gave this to me. It's supposed to hide a human's scent from a wolf's nose. He shouldn't know we were here, if this actually works," Stiles explains. Once he is finished, he stuffs the baggy in his pocket again and follows us out the door. We make sure the door is locked again before heading to the elevators. The elevator ride was short and fast, which was comforting since I can tell we all wanted to get out of there.

"You sure are picking up on all this stuff pretty fast," Lydia comments to me. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks," I reply. "It's all coming together and becoming easier to understand.

"You'll get used to it in no time," Stiles tells me from his place on Lydia's left. I take note of how close they are walking together and make a note in my head to ask Stiles about it later. Something has happened with them. I don't think that Lydia would tell me anything. She would probably deny anything I asked.

As we came to a stop in front of Stiles' jeep, something seemed off. "What happened to my car?" Stiles demands as we steps closer to the hood. He pulls it up and looks inside.

I move to stand beside him and look over his shoulder. "I think someone messed with your brakes."

"I see that," Stiles replies shortly.

"No need for the attitude now," I retort back though I know he is just getting more frustrated by the minute.

"What are we going to do?" Stiles asks us, exasperated.

"Call someone I guess," Lydia tells us, with a tone like it was an obvious solution.

"Okay, but who? Everyone thinks we are at home. We are not even supposed to be here!" Stiles exclaims. He slams the hood back down and leans against it.

"Calm down," I tell him. We didn't need him getting any panic attacks or anxiety attacks right now. We needed to figure out a way to fix this problem and get home.

"I know who we can call," Lydia says. I take on look at her and know who she is suggesting.

"No," I deadpan.

"They are our only option," Lydia reminds me. I look at Stiles for help, but he just shrugs. Sighing, I turn back to Lydia.

"Fine." She smiles and pulls her phone out to text Aiden.

25 minutes later, Aiden pulls up on his motorcycle with Ethan sitting behind him. I was surprised that he wasn't on his.

"Hey," Aiden greets us as they get off the bike and make their way towards us. Aiden goes straight for the hood of the jeep and gestures for Stiles to move. I watch as he does as he is told and Aiden lifts up the hood. I hear Ethan walk up beside me. I turn and see him smile at me. I smile sadly back at him and then turn back to watch Aiden continue his work.

"Why didn't you take your bike?" I blurt out to Ethan. I feel his gaze on the side of my face, but I keep my focus on Aiden, Stiles and Lydia.

"We figured that one of us should ride back with you guys, in case something happens. Two motorcycles with 5 people wouldn't work out really well. So, I'm going to ride back with you guys."

"Oh." I didn't know how the car ride was going to go now that I was going to be stuck in the same car as Ethan. This was why I didn't want to call them.

It takes only a few more minutes before Aiden finishes up fixing the jeep.

"We think it was Peter." Aiden tells Ethan and I.

"Seriously? So he knows we were here," I exclaim.

The twins nod at us.

"Well, we should go before he comes back," Stiles tells us. I could tell that even he was anxious to leave the area.

"Are you going to tell Scott you were here?" I ask Stiles.

Stiles looks at me and groans at the mention of Scott. "Yeah. I guess I have to, don't I? He's going to be so pissed that we came here."

Nobody says anything and we all move to our cars. Lydia goes with Aiden to his motorcycle and Ethan follows me to Stiles' jeep. He gestures for me to get into the front seat of the jeep as Stiles' make his way to the driver's side and Ethan opens the backdoor for himself.

I catch Aiden smile at me and Ethan together before he gets on the bike with Lydia and they take off. I hop into the front seat and shut manage to get the door shut before Stiles turns on the engine and pulls away from the curb.

The car ride was awkward, to say the least. For once, Stiles has chosen not to say a word. He doesn't have convenient timing. He is just sitting there humming away at nothing in particular. He wouldn't even let me turn on the radio! Ethan is quiet as well. I assume it is because Stiles is there. Seconds turns into minutes of Stiles humming and tapping his fingers on the wheel and it is starting to get to me.

"Stiles!" I snap. I see him flinch and he quickly stops tapping and humming.

The look on his face makes me begin to feel a little guilty. It's not like he can help it. "Sorry," I apologize.

"Not a problem, Danny Boy."

"Soo..." Stiles begins as soon as I turn my face towards the window to look out and distract myself. I didn't know what to say to Ethan. I didn't want to be alone with him, and it seemed even weirder being around him with Stiles around.

"You two seem friendlier," Stiles comments. I turn and give Stiles a glare and I feel Ethan looking at us as well. Stiles glances in the rear view mirror and takes note of Ethan's expression, and without even looking, I can tell that it is similar to mine.

"Okay, then," Stiles says when it appears neither Ethan or I are going to comment on Stiles' statement. I didn't feel like discussing my relationship with Ethan at all, much less with Stiles and definitely not with Ethan present in the backseat.

"Why does it have to be weird? Why can't we be friends?" Ethan pipes up from the backseat. Stiles spares me a glance and I look down at my lap.

"Maybe because of everything you've done and have attempted to do," Stiles states. I smile at him appreciatively for answering.

"I haven't hurt anyone," Ethan says.

I turn my seat and look at him in disbelief.

"Really?" I snap at him. Ethan flinches at my tone.

"Not physically at least."

"Did you remember Boyd and Erica? How about Isaac? He was pretty bruised up from you guys," Stiles remarks coldly.

Ethan doesn't reply and leans forward towards me. "I'm sorry," he whispers to me.

"For what? Danny finding out about your plan?" Stiles questions. I give him a glance and silently thank him for his help, which he smiles at me in return.

I turn back to look at Ethan. "I know. It doesn't change anything though," I tell him. Ethan frowns and I turn back in my seat so that I don't have to watch him absorb what I said. The car stretches into a long silence. Stiles is dead quiet from the front seat, and so is Ethan from the backseat. I look out my window again and notice that we were pulling onto a street that I didn't recognize. The jeep passes by a few small houses before it gets to an apartment building and Stiles stops the jeep at the curb. I look and notice Aiden's motorcycle nearby. This must be their apartment. I feel a little annoyed that I have never been here before, but I sit in silence and wait for Ethan to get out of the jeep.

"So, thanks for the ride Stiles," Ethan says.

"It's fine," Stiles replies shortly and looks at me. I glance back at him as Ethan opens the jeep door and moves to get out.

"See you later Danny," Ethan tells before shutting the door and making his way towards the building.

"Yeah, see you," I reply quietly, already knowing that he will hear me.

"You okay?" Stiles asks me carefully. I look at him again for a moment and then at my lap.

"Yeah," I nod my head. "I will be."

"Okay, take you home then?"

"Yeah, thanks." Stiles nods and once again the jeep is moving through the streets.


	10. No More Hiding

** Chapter 10 – No More Hiding**

Today's practice has not been as bad as it normally is. The coach is up a head of us a bit, yelling at the kids who slow down and are socializing instead of running. I have mixed feelings on cross country. On one hand, it actually relaxes me and calms me down. However, on the other hand it is pure hell.

"COME ON, ARE YOU A BUNCH OF GIRLS? RUN!" Coach's voice travels through the path. Even with him saying that, I keep the same pace and so does Stiles, who is running along side me.

"Some of us _are_ girls," someone points out to him.

"Oh, uh well yeah. Keep running!" Coach replies nervously.

"You know," I laugh. "I sometimes wonder if he hates coaching anything but lacrosse because of the way he treats us at times. But then I think about it, and realize that this is how he treats us even during lacrosse."

"Yeah, I know. However, you have to admit that it is easy to get used to," Stiles replies.

"That you are right about."

"You know, he even told Scott he does care about us," Stiles casually says.

I look at Stiles in disbelief and nod for him to further explain.

"After the final game last year, he told Scott and Isaac that he does care," Stiles further explains.

"Oh. Wow."

"Yup," Stiles pops the 'p'.

"So, was this when you got kidnapped by Allison's grandfather?" I ask Stiles carefully, sensing that this was a sensitive subject for him.

"Uh, yeah," Stiles replies and looks ahead.

"Okay," I say. "You know...if you ever want to talk to anyone, you can come to me," I offer.

Stiles looks at me surprised for a moment and then grins.

"Thanks Danny boy." I smile back. Last year and even months ago, I would never have thought I would have made that offer to Stiles and more the less meant every word of it. I guess this whole thing has me realizing who has always tried to help me and who hasn't wanted to cause any harm to myself.

"Hey guys." I glance away from Stiles to see that Scott and Isaac have walked up to us.

"Hey," I reply at the same time that Stiles says, "Yo."

"You both tired yet?" I find myself teasing, which feels almost natural with them nowadays.

"Nope, Coach called a break," Scott explains. I take a look around and realize that everyone has stopped and are socializing freely now and drinking water. The cool breeze that flowed through the air felt nice on my skin. The weather seems to be getting colder at times now.

"Oh," I state and look for the twins, or more importantly, their where abouts. It takes me only a few seconds to see that they have taken a seat by a old, big tree. They seemed to be in a deep conversation about something and appeared to not be listening in on our conversation.

"So, anything new?" I ask the three of them. I didn't know what else to talk about. Lately, the only topic I find myself talking to them about is werewolves. That seems to be the only thing I talk about these days.

"No. Isaac has been around Peter a bit. Too keep up appearances."

"Hasn't our cover been blown already? He doesn't suspect anything after you guys chased him through the woods? And plus, he obviously knows we were at his apartment." Right when the words leave my mouth, Stiles' eyes widen. Aside from the chatter from the other groups of people, the four of us were silent.

"What?" Scott asks finally, turning to look at Stiles expectantly. He didn't look happy.

"Uh, I was going to tell you?" Stiles phrases his statement as a question.

"Wait, you didn't tell him yet?" I turn to Stiles.

"Never got the chance to?"

"Stiles." Stiles and I turn to see that Scott has stopped walking and has his arms crossed, waiting for Stiles to explain. Isaac stands beside him, looking a bit annoyed with us as well, but not as much as Scott does. Stiles looks at me, and it takes me a minute to realize that he is waiting for me to begin explaining.

"No. You promised you would tell him, so you are explaining," I deadpan. Stiles rolls his eyes and huffs.

"Fine."

Scott looks at Stiles expectantly.

"Last weekend, when you, Isaac and Allison went to follow Peter, Danny, Lydia and I went to his apartment to look around," Stiles explains calmly.

"You three broke into his apartment?" Isaac exclaims, his eyes widening. I happen to glance at the twins again and see that we have gained their attention and that they both appear to have become invested in our conversation. Ethan catches my eye and he seems to be in shock that I took part in the break in to Peter's apartment. After a few seconds of maintaining eye contact, longer than I should have, I turn back to Stiles, Scott and Isaac. Stiles and Scott seem to be in some sort of staring match. Scott's jaw is set and that is a sign that he is trying not to get angry at us. Isaac seems to be angry as well.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Scott asks, however I don't respond because he is directing his questions towards Stiles. He pulls Stiles off to the side, and away from Isaac and I. I assume it is to get away from hearing distance of everyone.

"Why are you yelling at me? Danny came too!" Stiles exclaims.

I snort. I can't believe he's playing the whole 'he did it too' card.

"Yeah, but you've been around this the longest," Scott retorts and lowers his voice. "You know what Peter is like and what he could do." Despite him lowering his voice, I still heard the last part of his sentence. Isaac shifts uncomfortably beside me.

"It must suck to be able to hear everything people say," I state.

Isaac glances at me and smiles. "Yeah sometimes. And sometimes it can be useful," he smirks.

"And when were you planning on telling me this?" I hear Scott ask Stiles, quite loudly. Scott seems to notice how loud his voice may have carried and clears his throat awkwardly, while avoiding the wandering eyes that glanced in our direction.

"Soon! I swear! I've been busy!" Stiles exclaims.

"Doing what?"

I look to see that Stiles has gone quiet and was seemed to be struggling with his next words. "Scott," Stiles finally says. "This hasn't been easy for me. I've been having the side effects."

I frown in confusion and glance at Isaac, however Isaac seems to be focused on the conversation as well.

"Oh."

"Have you?"

"A bit," Scott admits. "But we knew this was going to happen the moment we decided to do the sacrifice to save our parents."

I nod my head in understanding and Isaac smiles sadly at me. When Stiles told me what he, Scott and Allison did to find their parents, I found that it was really brave. Like, I have a really good relationship with my parents, but I've always admired the relationship Scott and Stiles have with their parents. Stiles will do anything for his father. I briefly remember hearing about Stiles' mom dying and the state Stiles had been in afterwards. Anybody with eyes can tell that Stiles is trying to do whatever it takes to keep his father as safe as can be with him being the sheriff and all. Then there's Scott. He seems to have lasted just fine without having a dad around. I could never imagine and understand how anyone could just leave their children and family behind. From what I've heard, Scott's dad works a lot, but couldn't he have found the time to see his son? I just don't understand it. Then there's Allison. I don't know much about her, but from what Stiles has said about her family, she seems to be a survivor just as Scott and Stiles are. All of these qualities are admirable to me.

"Let's talk about this later," Scott suggests, breaking me out of my thoughts. It was a good thing he said that because the coach begins talking, well yelling, right after. "ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP! We're heading back!"

"Finally, we're done," I hear a bunch of people mutter to their friends. I smile tiredly and walk up to Stiles and Scott with Isaac close behind me.

"I'm so glad Coach ended practice," Isaac tells us. No one gets a chance to say anything in response as we hear a snicker a few feet away. My eyes dart to the forest and I see Peter standing there, grinning right at us. I hear a low growl, and I turn to see that it has come from Isaac. I notice his eyes have turned to the golden colour I saw in the forest that night and that Scott's eyes were a pure red colour. Stiles and I both glance around quickly and sigh in relief when we see that the group has almost disappeared from sight. I turn back in time to see Peter dart off into the forest and Scott and Isaac take off after him. Seconds later, Aiden runs right by us, heading directly into the direction that Scott and Isaac went. I notice that Ethan was nowhere in sight; he more than likely went in a different direction to cut Peter off. Honestly, I hope that they catch Peter soon, so that I can be back to living a non-fearful life that seems to have taken over my life recently.

Stiles and I run to catch up with the group. We make it back to the school in record time, and I'm happy that Coach never realized we were gone, or that four members of the team are missing. Though we can just explain they went home to shower, as school has already ended for the day.

Stiles doesn't say much to me. He makes a few jokes with the Coach and then tells me that he has to get to his dad's office to meet him.

"I'll be fine," I reassure him.

"Okay... Scott just texted me and said that it should be fine to let you go home on your own. They are still following Peter."

After a few more minutes, I finally manage to reassure Stiles that I will be fine to take the bus home or to walk. I'm opting more for the bus though. It's probably safer to be around more people.

I'm one of the last people leaving the locker room. Finstock just left and Stiles left 10 minutes ago. Three guys were left behind me, in the shower and getting dressed.

The hallways were almost deserted. A few students lingered the hallways from the after school clubs or detentions they were in. After I stop off at my locker, I continue down the hallway to the doors. Suddenly, I hear echoes of feet behind me. I turn but see nobody there. The eerie feeling that I am being watched and followed comes back. I speed up my pace in order to get outside faster where I just saw a group of students walk out to. I past the library doors and I past a few more classrooms, before I hear feet move from directly behind me. I don't even have a chance to turn around because the unknown person shoves me forward into a storage closet. The room was dark and I make out the sound of the lock clicking. Great, I'm locked in and I'm in the dark. I hear the other person breathing, nearby. I'm trying to figure out where the light switch is, when it suddenly turns on and I look to see that Ethan was standing right beside me in the closet; directly in front of the door, making escape almost impossible.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, trying to remain calm. It was different talking to him with other people around. The fact that he chose to talk to me this way, means that he is not taking no for an answer.

"I wanted to talk to you," Ethan responds innocently.

"Well, what was wrong with at practice or with somewhere more public?" I ask him nervously.

Ethan raises his brow at me. "What we need to talk about is private."

I can literally feel my heart pounding at his words and by the look on Ethan's face, he can hear it too. I'm barely struggling with talking to him with the others around. I'm not ready to be near him alone just yet. I'm not prepared for this conversation.

I shake my head at him. "Let me out."

"Nope," Ethan replies. He leans against the door way, like he is making himself comfortable. He's completely caught me off guard, and by the way he is acting, he's had to have planned this.

"Danny, we need to talk."

"No we don't."

"Yeah, we do. I want to give you an explanation."

"There's nothing to explain. I was obviously only a piece in whatever game you and your brother played."

Ethan shakes his head.

I continue. "It's not just about me either. What about Lydia? You and your brother did this to her too!"

"Danny-"

"No, let me out!" I yell. I try to shove Ethan out of my way, but he's not budging. He seemed to be planted like a rock directly in front of the doorway.

"I thought you were going to leave me alone?! I don't want to talk about this!"My hands are pounding at his arms, and chest, trying to get him to budge. I don't even know if I'm angry anymore. My emotions are all over the place.

"I've tried to respect your wishes. I did. But you can't keep avoiding this talk," Ethan tells me calmly, while still allowing me to hit him and try to move him. I'm at the point where I just want to get out of the closet.

"Ethan!" I feel like I want to give up and talk. But, I don't want to face this. I know that if he wasn't a werewolf, I may have actually been causing him pain, but he doesn't seem to be affected by my movements.

Just when I'm about to keep going and make the next hit I feel him grab my wrist for me to stop.

"Let go," I find myself saying darkly, trying to tug my wrist free but have no luck.

"No I won't," Ethan retorts, unaffected by my change of tone.

"Ethan seriously I don't want to talk to you."

"Okay, then you can listen."

"Ethan!" I try to break his grip on my wrist, but he won't budge. I know he's not hurting me; his grip is gentle. I hate that his werewolf strength is making him more stronger than me.

"Please," I whimper. I try to twist my hand free, but it's not working. I only seem to be hurting myself more. I feel tears threatening to fall and I will them to stay put. But, I don't have enough energy to hold them back and they begin falling freely for Ethan to see. I feel sobs wrack my body and I want to turn away, but Ethan keeps his hold on my wrist as he pulls me into his arms. He wraps his arms around me gently, but tightly. He doesn't say anything, he just rubs my back in soothing circles as I cry about everything and let my feelings come out. I hate how comforting the gestures are that Ethan is making and I want to hate the fact that I feel the most safe than I have felt in weeks. Instead, I relax into his embrace and find myself letting him comfort me quietly.

After a few more minutes, I manage to calm down and feel the last of the tears slide down my cheek. I remain in Ethan's arms and even bury my hear further into the side of his neck, breathing in his scent. I don't have to be looking at Ethan to know that he is smiling from head to toe at my sudden movements.

"Now, I don't really want to talk in a closet, so will you come with me somewhere private to talk?" Ethan asks me quietly, his voice filling the silence in the room.

I hesitate.

"Danny, please," Ethan pleads with me. He pulls back in order to glance at me. "Do you really want to talk in this cramped closet?"

"Then why did you force me in here?" I find myself repeating my question from when he first shoved me in here.

"Well, I had to get you talking to me somehow. And this seemed to be the only opportunity I would get," Ethan says with a smirk. I glare at him, but my anger was dying down.

"Fine," I find myself agreeing.

Ethan smiles widely at me, grabbing my hand. Though it was a sudden move, and possibly too soon for us, I let him continue holding it. He unlocks the door to the closet and we step into the hallway. No one appeared to be around and the hallway appeared to be deserted. Ethan leads me down the hallway and out the doors to wear his motorcycle was waiting.

I feel sad just thinking about the fact that this was the first time I've been on his motorcycle since before we broke up. Ethan glances at me when we stop in front of the bike, and by the look on his face, I know we are both thinking the same thoughts. He gets on the bike first and reaches back to hand me the extra helmet, that was basically mine since no one else normally rode with him. I put it on and get on the bike. I wrap my arms around his waist and find myself snuggling into him, and he starts the bike and drives off.


	11. The Explanation

**A/N: Wow! Three chapters in one day! I would say it is an accomplishment, but these chapters were already ready to post. :) I just want to remind everyone who is reading this that this story is coming to a close very soon.**

**Anyway, I just wanted to remind everyone of that, in case the update were coming faster than anyone thought they would. I've really been putting my full attention to this story.**

**On one more note, I just want to say that I am indeed excited for Teen Wolf to premiere one week from today. It is looking like it is going to be a really good season!**

* * *

** Chapter 11- The Explanation**

The elevator ride up to Ethan and Aiden's apartment was silent. However, it wasn't tense like it has been between us lately. I was almost comfortable again. I honestly didn't know how I felt about talking at their apartment, but it was the only real private place we could talk without being interrupted.

The elevator stopped, indicating we arrived at Ethan's floor, which was the 9th floor. I slowly follow him, and let him lead the way to the apartment door. Once we got there, he unlocked it and stepped aside to let me enter first.

Inside the apartment, it was nice. I didn't expect it to be as well kept as it was. The living room was a good size. They had a nice black couch, and the TV was similar to mine, only a little bit smaller.

I glance around more and see from where I'm standing that the kitchen appears to be well kept as well. As far as I know, it was only Ethan and Aiden living there.

I hear Ethan shut the door behind me and I feel him come up to stand beside me.

"Where's Aiden at?" I ask, finding it odd that Aiden wasn't here, but figuring he was with Lydia.

"He's with Lydia and the others helping to figure out what to do about Peter," Ethan replies. I spin around quickly to look at him.

"And why are we here then? Shouldn't we be helping them?" I question in disbelief. I would have thought that we would have been with the others; we should be helping them.

"They have it under control for now. Aiden's sticking nearby to watch out for Peter, but other than that, we are alone. He won't be able to hear us."

"I'm not worried about that," I tell him, then instantly regret my choice of words.

"I know. You're worried about being alone with me. About talking to me and hearing what I have to say," Ethan states. I don't say anything back. I didn't expect him to know that much. Am I that much of an open book?

"You've made it clear that you're not ready," Ethan tells me gently. He walks past me and takes a seat on the couch.

"Okay," I shrug my shoulders. "If I'm not ready then why are we here?"

"Because like I said in that closet, we need to talk now. You deserve to know everything Danny. You can't keep avoiding this conversation." Ethan motions for me to sit down on the couch beside him.

"I'm not avoiding anything," I defend myself. Ethan gives me a look and stays silent.

"Okay, fine maybe I am," I admit while taking the seat next to him, but leaving a good distance between us.

"I know I hurt you," Ethan begins. "I just want a chance to explain things to you."

"What things?" I ask. Even though I wasn't sure if I was ready to hear everything, I had to admit that I was curious.

"Like how Aiden and I became alphas in the first place. And... about my intentions with you" Ethan says, looking me in the eye.

"I know what your intentions were. You were only using me to get to Scott," I state.

"Is that really what you believe?" Ethan asks me. "You think that I don't care about you?"

"Yes I do think that," I tell him. "At least I think that's true."

"Well, it's not. I do care about you Danny." I look at him and see that he has his full attention on me. A part of me does believe him. It's hard not to question my feelings when he is being so persistent to explain everything to me.

"So, how did you and Aiden come to be in the alpha pack in the first place?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Well, from what I know, Stiles has told you, Deucalion, Kali and Ennis all killed everyone in their packs. They were already alphas to begin with, but Aiden and I weren't. We were omegas."

"Omegas are wolves who don't really belong with a pack, right?" I clarify.

Ethan nods. "Right. We didn't belong with our pack. We were the outsiders; the scapegoats is how I described it to Scott and Stiles. Our pack treated us differently and we weren't taken seriously. I guess Aiden and I had enough at one point. We ended up killing everyone in our pack. We left our alpha for last and when we got to him, we quite literally tore him to pieces. After that, Aiden and I both became alphas; we became much stronger than we already were."

"Okay. Keep going," I say.

"Aiden and I have this ability because we are twins. We can morph into one body. It makes us powerful. But, we didn't know how to control it. Deucalion taught as how. We joined the alpha pack and they had helped us out so much."

"By telling you to kill people."

"I didn't want to kill Boyd," Ethan says, looking me in the eye.

"Then why did you?"

"Danny, you don't understand how much Aiden and I owe them. I couldn't just say no to Kali. They would target me. But more importantly, they would have hurt Aiden. He's my brother, and I couldn't do that to him."

"I understand. I'm not asking why you alone didn't say no. I'm asking why you and Aiden both didn't tell them no; didn't refuse them."

"At the time, Aiden was still more invested with them then I was. It wasn't until the fight with the Darach that Aiden seemed to have switched sides as well."

"When did you switch sides?" I ask him.

"I don't know. I think sometime around Boyd's death. But... I started to feel differently around the time we were at the motel," Ethan replies. I don't say anything at first. Was Ethan telling me that he switched sides because of me?

"Danny," Ethan interrupts my thoughts. "At first, I was only interested in you because I was told to be. I've never had any intention to harm you. Physically or emotionally."

"But you did. Not physically, but you still did."

"I know. Danny, I do care about you though. Aiden had told me to stay away from you, but I couldn't."

"How do I know you aren't lying?" I ask quietly. I look anywhere else but at Ethan. I want to believe he is telling the truth.

"I'm not. I've been trying to protect you. I wouldn't do that if I had no interest in you. I think you know that I care."

I groan and lean over to bury my face in my hands. By now, I know that he does care about me. I can see it in his eyes right as he has been talking. I just don't know how to go about this.

"Danny..." Ethan's voice fills the room. I don't move from my spot and I feel a hand rub my back gently.

"Danny, please," Ethan pleads. I sit back up and I take the chance and look at him. Ethan seems to be worried, and in pain; like the way I am feeling.

"I don't know what to do," I admit.

"Anything you want," Ethan reassures me. "If you don't want to be together, then just tell me and I'll honour your wishes. But, if you do want to be together, then we can take it slow."

I contemplate his words. On one hand, I want to be with him. I want to jump back into a relationship with him and take things slower. I want to be with him. But, on the other hand, I know that I can't do that right away. I need time to get used to everything still.

I break the silence. "I think that we should be friends for right now," I tell him.

"Okay, " Ethan replies.

"For right now at least. I don't want you out of my life, but at the same point I don't think we should jump back into our relationship just yet. I want us to try to be friends first."

"I think I can do that," Ethan tells me and smiles. I smile back in appreciation that he is taking this so well.

"Thanks for explaining everything."

"You deserved to know."

"I owe you an apology," I begin saying.

"No, you don't," Ethan interrupts me.

"Yes I do. I know I overreacted a bit when I heard you and Aiden talking. I should have let you explain. I'm sorry."

"Thanks. I'm sorry about...well...everything."

"I know. I forgive you. It sounds kind of crazy but I think I can forgive you for it."

Ethan grins and leans towards me. For a moment, I'm worried that he was going to try and kiss me. But instead, I find myself wrapped up in his arms again. I gladly accept the hug and lean into him. My last thought before that hug ended and I found myself back on Ethan's motorcycle with him driving me home was that it was going to be weird being friends with him.


	12. No More Laying Low

** Chapter 12 - No More Laying Low**

This honestly sucks. The one time I actually want some company, no one is here to give it. They are all busy; mainly with Scott and Stiles who are trying to get a hold of Derek and figured that leaving me alone for the lunch hour would be fine, as long as I stay near a public place.

I'm currently sitting on the bleachers watching some guys practice lacrosse. It's starting up soon and I've noticed that some of the guys who have been benched in the past have been here everyday practising. Though, there is not much of a point, as the coach will end up putting the same people on the field as he normally does. The only exception will probably be Stiles, sine he proved he is a good player, and Ethan and Aiden, if they decide to come out and join.

It's been a few days since Ethan and I talked. We've been sitting together at lunch a few times, but we've barely spent more than five minutes alone since the talk. It's probably best for right now.

I've told Jackson everything that has been going on. He's actually being very supportive and has been trying to give me some advice on how to handle everything. I actually think that me finding out everything has brought Jackson and I closer than we were.

"Look out Danny!" I snap my attention back to my team mates just as a ball comes flying towards me face. I quickly catch it with my hand and toss it back to them.

"Sorry man!"

"It's cool."

They end of packing their stuff up quickly and make their way inside before the bell begins ringing for lunch to end. I stay outside for a few more minutes playing a game of Tetris on my phone before moving to get off the bleachers. As soon as my feet hit the grass and I'm standing on the field, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I begin to regret not following Scott's advice to stay near someone at lunch. I spot in the distance some people lingering near the door ways, but I look and see that I am almost out of sight from them. I pay close attention to the sounds around me and hear footsteps approaching softly from my left.

I turn and see a man walking towards me, and he was smirking.

Peter.

I pull out my phone and quickly text Stiles while I slowly back up.

**Lacrosse field. Peter. **

"Asking for help?" Peter asks.

I don't respond to him and try to keep a distance between us.

"Oh. Don't worry, I won't hurt you," Peter says smugly. He stops walking and stops a few steps from me.

"What do you want?" I ask, trying to keep the shake out of my voice.

"I just wanted to officially introduce myself," Peter says innocently. "I'm Peter. Derek's uncle." he extends his hand towards me, but I only eye it and tighten my hold on my phone.

His hand drops and he frowns. "Oh, my bad. You probably know me as the uncle who killed his niece and placed this "curse" as Scott calls it, on him," he says and rolls his eyes.

"What do you want?" I repeat.

"Like I said before, I wanted to introduce myself. Jeez, does nobody listen nowadays?"

I narrow my eyes at him.

"Oh, Danny. Don't bother doing that. Your hearts beating a mile an hour." I straighten up a bit and continue to stay on guard.

"Leave me alone."

"Who said I was after anyone?"

It was my turn to roll my eyes at him. "We know it's been you following me around."

Peter smirks. "Hmm, you sure are smart." He doesn't get a chance to say anything else as I hear feet pounding at full speed towards us. I turn to see Scott, and Isaac coming, with Allison and Stiles not far behind.

"Nice talking to you. I must be going," Peter tells me before running off into the forest with Scott and Isaac hot on his heels.

"You okay?" Allison asks once she and Stiles arrive next to me.

"Yeah," my voice quivers a bit. "I'm fine." I notice Stiles eye me quickly and then he says, "What did he want?" he asks.

"He said he wanted to introduce himself," I respond. Stiles and Allison glance at each other confused before looking at me.

"That's all?" Allison questions in disbelief.

I nod.

"Seriously?" Stiles exclaims.

"Yeah, he didn't get much of a chance to say anything else." They nod at me and we make our way quickly across the field and towards the school. By the time we get inside most of the students were rushing into their classrooms before they would be late.

The rest of the day goes by quickly. Scott and Isaac returned shortly after. They didn't get into a fight with Peter, and reported that Peter kept on acting like he was up to nothing at all. I don't buy it though and I can tell that no one else does either.

There was no practice after school, so I found myself standing in Stiles' kitchen.

"Can you tell me again why you're snooping through you're dad's files?" I ask as I watch Stiles search through the many piles of papers that the Sheriff left on the kitchen table. I had chosen to stick near Stiles today since Peter approached me and had come over hang out with him and I had found him knee deep in his snooping.

"Because, I am trying to see if there has been any attacks recently. Maybe, Peter has attacked some poor innocent kid and we don't even know it."

"You really think that?" I ask.

"I don't know. But we need to start somewhere." Stiles continues going through the papers. The few I glanced at, despite knowing the reports were private, all were basic car accidents and robberies.

"Don't you think you're dad would have said something by now? You said he knows now, so he wouldn't keep you in the dark when it could be something beyond his control," I point out.

"Well yeah, but he's been kind of busy at the station lately. He's been stressed with Scott's dad still here and all."

"Oh. Well, I don't think there's anything here. These all seem to be normal situations. Nothing supernatural about them."

"Yeah, you're right," Stiles mumbles. I watch as he straightens up the papers to try and make it seem like they weren't being all read through. I take one look at Stiles and can tell he is becoming more annoyed by the minute.

"What are we going to do?" I ask.

"I don't know!" Stiles shouts.

I jump a bit in surprise at his tone. I've never really heard Stiles yell. Well, aside from when he's acting crazy and hyper, and not to mention jumpy.

"Okay, calm down," I say calmly.

"Ugh, sorry. This is just so frustrating!" Stiles exclaims. He slams his hands down on the desk and plops down in one of the kitchen chairs. I take a few slow steps towards him and sit down in the seat across from him.

"Have you found anything yet?" I ask, hoping to get Stiles to relax a bit.

"No, I haven't. We still have no idea when Peter is going to strike. We don't know if Derek is ever coming back. We don't know if Peter is going to kill us all. He could be outside right now, ready to attack and we're sitting around completely defenceless!"

"Okay what has gotten into you?" I ask. I was becoming a little frightened at the way he was acting. I've never seen Stiles this jumpy before.

"I don't like not knowing anything," Stiles explains. I smile sympathetically at him. The silence that was beginning to happen, is ruined as a knock sounds on the front door. I look up and so does Stiles. I follow as he gets up to answer the door. Another knock sounds. This person seems to be impatient.

"I'm coming," Stiles shouts. He gets to the door with me not far behind and opens it to reveal Scott standing there with an annoyed look on his face. I move further into sight and see that there was a man standing beside Scott, who I can take a guess and assume was Scott's father.

"Well, it's nice to see you Scott," Stiles comments. I see Scott's father smirk in response to Stiles. His father seemed rather dressed up, like he was here on business. He appeared to still be on the job, as he was wearing his suit and his badge. I take a further look and see that the top says F.B.I. My eyes widen in surprise, but I remain silent.

"What do you want?" Stiles asks Scott's dad.

"Is your father here?" he asks him.

"Nope. Don't you have eyes? Look in the drive way. Do you see his car?"

Agent McCall smirks again and seems to be biting his tongue. I glance at Scott and see that he's smiling appreciatively at Stiles.

"I couldn't be sure. I need to discuss work with him. I'm guessing he's at the station working then?"

"Yup."

"Okay then. I guess I'll be going."

"Fine bye." Stiles pulls Scott inside and practically slams the door in Agent McCall's face.

"Sorry, he insisted on dropping me off," Scott tells us.

"It's fine." Stiles waves his hand dismissively.

"Your dad's an F.B.I agent? How come no one ever knew?"

"I'm not really supposed to brag about it much. Not that it's really anything to brag about."

"I just think it's cool that both you're parents are into law enforcement and yet you both still seem to break the law quite a bit." Stiles and Scott grin at each other.

We head back into the kitchen as Stiles fills Scott in on what we were doing. Scott seems disappointed when we report that we had no luck.

I take a seat once again in the same seat I had just been occupying. Stiles reclaims his seat as well and Scott moves towards the fridge.

"Can I grab a drink?" Scott asks.

"Sure, grab me one too."

"Okay. Danny?" Scott looks towards me.

"Sure, thanks." Scott nods and grabs three sodas from the fridge. He hands us our sodas before taking the seat next to me.

"Have you guys had any luck?" I ask him curiously.

"No, Peter's been hiding pretty well, since lunch. We've managed to catch a few signs of him, but I think he has chosen to stay in hiding for now. We've been kind of splitting up into groups, well pairs, but still nothing."

I frown, disappointed with the news. I was hoping after the scare Peter had given me, that they would have found something out. They had texted Derek to let him know what had happened and by the sounds of it, Derek should be coming to help soon.

"Oh. I was honestly hoping for better," I say as I lean back a bit in the chair. "I know Ethan's told me that him and Aiden haven't had any luck when they've tried looking at times without you guys."

Right as I finish, I notice that Scott has sort of a smile on his face, while Stiles sort of has the same surprised look on his face. "What?" I ask.

"You didn't tell me that you and Ethan were back together," Stiles exclaims.

Scott grunts.

"Us. You didn't tell us that you and Ethan were back together," Stiles corrects.

"We're not back together, we are just friends," I correct Stiles.

"Riiight," Stiles says, and then smirks.

"What?"

"You and Ethan can not just be friends. It's like saying that Scott and Allison can just sit and be friends after everything they have been through."

"Hey! Allison and I are perfectly fine being friends," Scott defends.

I roll my eyes. I've seen the way that Scott still eyes Allison.

"Well, I have to admit that I'm impressed with how weird it actually hasn't been with you two in the same room together. But, I've seen the looks you've been given her, especially when she is around Isaac," Stiles replies.

"It's been hard," Scott mumbles.

"We know," I add in. "It's hard to even try to be friends. But, like you and Allison, I think that Ethan and I can be friends."

Stiles considers my words and nods his head in agreement. "But, for how long?" he asks me.

"I don't know," I admit. How long could Ethan and I try to be friends? It's been alright so far, but it's only been a few days since our talk at his apartment.

Scott and Stiles don't say anything in response. Stiles begins looking through the reports again. I don't bother to help because we've spent time already and found nothing.

"So, how long is your dad in town?" I turn to Scott and ask.

Scott takes a sip of his soda and then places it back on the table before he responds. "I'm not entirely sure. Luckily my mom hasn't been letting him stay in the house, but he's been around a bit, wanting to spend time with me and all."

"Oh. Have you guys done that?"

"A bit. I'm just angry with him and it's been hard to control my anger around him."

"So your parents got divorced and then your dad just left town?" I ask. Scott doesn't reply right away and it makes me feel like I've being nosey and intruding on his relationship with his father.

"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to," I add quickly.

"No, no. It's not you. I had seen him a bit after the divorce, but with his job it was hard. After a while he just up and left to focus on his job and never really kept in contact with me."

"That must have sucked," I reply. I didn't really know what to say. My parents have a good relationship from what I can tell and I've never experienced having a single parent. I don't know what it is like to have a parent just up and leave and not have any contact with their children.

"Yeah. But, my mom and I survived," Scott says confidently.

I smile in agreement. I look towards Stiles for a moment and see that he is still nose deep in the papers. I shake my head at his lack of privacy for his dad's work and take a long drink from my soda. I just manage to swallow and set the can back on the table when Stiles yells.

"I found something!"

"What?" Scott leans forward to look at the report that Stiles places down in the middle of the table for the three of us to see.

"This report. It says that a couple had been target when they were out near the forest."

"Okay? But what does that prove that Peter is creating some sort of plan?"

"See these marks on the body," Stiles points to the girl in the photo. "She has the same exact marks that Lydia had on her right when I had gotten to her after Peter attacked her.

Scott's eyes widen. "Did she survive?" he asks before I could.

"No. It says here in the report that both her and then guy died on the way to the hospital in the ambulance."

"What could it mean though?" I ask them. They both exchange a look and then look at me.

"It's a sign," Stiles says grimly.

"How so?" I ask.

"It's too much of a coincidence that these marks are similar to Lydia's."

"Wouldn't Peter want to stay hidden longer though?"

"You don't know Peter. By doing this, he wants us to know he has a plan," Scott states. I lean back again in my seat and sigh. It wasn't much, but now that we had something, this whole thing seems to be leading up to some big reveal. Scott seems to have the same thought and out of the corner of my eyes I see him lean forward more and rests his head and arms on the table. Stiles quickly takes photos of the reports.

"For reference if we need it," Stiles explains when he catches me eyeing him curiously.

"Couldn't you just ask your dad to see it if we needed to?"

"Well yeah, but these will be back at his office probably by tomorrow and we're not taking chances of anyone else seeing us looking through the reports."

I nod my head. That plan does sound a lot safer and less risky. As I finish off my last sip of the soda, the doorbell rings. Scott shoots his head up and I try to hide a laugh at the movement. Scott doesn't acknowledge my laugh though as he seems to be focused on the front door. Stiles moves to answer it.

"It better not be your dad again," Stiles mumbles. I was actually kind of hoping it wasn't Scott's dad again either. The man didn't seem to be that friendly.

Scott stays where he is seated and I can tell he is listening in on Stiles. I hear the front door open and then Stiles say, with a surprised tone.

"Jackson?"

* * *

** Let me know what you think in a review and I just want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! :)**


	13. You're Back

** Chapter 13 – You're Back**

"Jackson?"

Instantly, I jump up from my seat and practically run to the front door, with Scott hot on my heels. I see Stiles with a shocked expression on his face and I turn to see Jackson standing in the doorway looking at Stiles.

"Jackson?" I ask. He turns his attention to the sound of his name and he frowns.

"Danny? What are you doing here?" he asks me confused. I look at him in disbelief.

"Me? I was going to ask you the same thing!" I exclaim. I think back and try to remember if Jackson had mentioned anything about coming home for a visit in our brief conversations over the past few weeks, but I come up with nothing.

"What does it look like? I'm standing here, waiting for Stilinksi to get rid of that idiotic look on his face and to invite me in."

Stiles seems to clue back in enough to glare slightly, but nonetheless he steps aside. Jackson enters the house and Stiles shuts the door behind him.

"So what are you doing here?" Scott immediately asks Jackson once the four of us are seated around the kitchen table.

"I figured you losers needed my help," Jackson replies and takes a drink from the bottle of water Stiles had offered him reluctantly.

"Wow, didn't know you cared about any of us," Stiles comments offhandedly. Jackson ignores him and turns his attention to Scott.

"So what's been going on around here McCall? Derek told me to talk to you."

Scott seems surprised. "You talked to Derek?"

"Yeah, so?" Jackson retorts.

"We didn't think you kept in contact with him after you got what you wanted," Scott replies. Just knowing the three of them, I can tell this conversation will turn into a fight if we don't keep the conversation heading in the right path.

"Yeah, well not really my choice," Jackson remarks. He sets his focus on me.

"So, you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was hanging with Stiles and-" But he cuts me off.

"You're actually here willingly?"

I catch Stiles' glare he shoots towards Jackson.

"Yeah," I shoot Jackson a look, "I am."

Jackson seems unfazed by my look. "Okay then. Go on," Jackson waves his hand for me to continue.

"And I'm here because we've been sticking to the buddy system. You know with Peter and all."

"Anything happen with him?"

Scott, Stiles and I glance at each other before looking at Jackson.

"What's with the look?"

"Um, Peter spoke to Danny today," Scott answers for me.

"You let them speak?" Jackson says harshly to Scott.

"No I didn't! Peter approached the moment we weren't with him," Scott says defensively.

"Ugh, you guys seriously should know better," Jackson states.

"I'd like to see you try and handle this. You suck just as much as we do," Stiles remarks.

"Whatever Stilinski," Jackson retorts.

"Guys, seriously? Give it a rest," I exclaim loudly to make my point across. Scott nods at me and gives Stiles a look which I assume is to tell him to also cool it with Jackson.

Scott and Stiles make themselves busy explaining to Jackson what has been going on lately. I pull my phone out and send a message to Jackson.

**So why are you really here?**

He never did answer my question and I was curious. I glance up and see Jackson pull his phone out and then glance at me briefly before replying.

**You need me here.**

I smile when I read the message.

"Seriously, we're explaining to you what you want to know and you're texting," Stiles exclaims.

"The least you can do is listen to us," Scott adds. I roll my eyes at them and Jackson smirks.

"Continue," he tells them. They continue with telling him about what they have been assuming about Peter and everything he's done to prove he is up to something, including the mention of the dead couple. Jackson seems to momentarily pale when Stiles mentioned that she had the same marks that Lydia did the night she got attacked. I almost forgot that Jackson had also been the other person to see her when that happened.

I feel a light buzzing in my pocket and I see Jackson and Scott briefly glance at me before turning their attention back to the Peter situation.

I pull my phone out to see that I had a message from Ethan.

**Call me. Now. **

Worriedly, I press call on my phone and stand up to move to the sink. It took me a moment to realize that I may have just stayed sitting down, as anywhere I go in the house, Scott and Jackson would hear.

"Hey," I say when Ethan picks up on the second ring. I feel three pairs of eyes set on my back and I know that Jackson, Scott and Stiles are listening in on the conversation.

"Peter approached you today?" Ethan cuts right to the chase.

"Uh, yeah."

"Why didn't you call me as soon as it happened?" I hear Jackson snicker behind me.

"I didn't get the chance to."

"Danny, I want to know if this stuff happens. This could have ended badly if Scott and Isaac hadn't shown up to go after him."

I hear a snicker behind me again and I turn to see the three of them quietly laughing at the table. If they weren't laughing at me and Ethan, then I would have smiled at the image of them getting along with each other. I shoot them a glare, and out of the three of them, Scott has the decency to look ashamed, while Jackson and Stiles don't bother trying.

"I was going to tell you."

"You sure about that?"

"Fine, maybe I wasn't," I admit.

I hear Ethan groan on the other end of the line. I quickly walk out of the kitchen and motion for the three of them to continue talking without me. I step out onto the front porch and close the door behind me.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to worry you."

"You should have told me. I had to find out from Aiden who found out from Lydia," Ethan replies.

"Wait, how did Lydia find out? I didn't tell her either."

"Allison and Isaac told her."

I sigh.

"I should have told you. I know."

"You wanted to be friends. Friends tell each other things," Ethan reminds me.

"I know. We are friends. I'll make sure to tell you if anything else happens."

"Promise?"

I smile. "I promise."

"So, is Scott with you and Stiles now?"

"Yeah," I reply. "He got here a little while ago."

"That's good. I feel better knowing he's with you guys."

"Yeah, well actually, Jackson's here as well."

"Your friend Jackson? The one in London?" Ethan seems surprised.

"Yup. He got here a little after Scott did."

"Wow."

"Mhmm." I nod even though he can't see me.

"Well, I want to meet him. You've told me so much about him already," Ethan says.

"I want to meet you too," I hear Jackson reply from behind me. I turn around to see Jackson step out onto the porch, closing the door shut behind him. He moves to stand beside me.

Ethan laughs.

"I'm guessing Scott told you he's a werewolf as well," I ask.

"Yeah he did."

"Figured."

"Hey, listen I should go. I'm meeting Aiden in a bit for a run."

"Okay, have fun."

"Okay, bye." He hangs up. I end the call on my phone and put it back in my pocket.

"Well, he sure was worried," Jackson comments.

I nod. "Yeah."

"You never told me you were talking with him again," Jackson states. He moves to lean against the railing on the porch and turns his head slightly to look at me.

"Yeah, it only happened recently," I explain and move to copy his motions. "We're trying to be friends."

Jackson snorts. "How well do you think that is going to go?"

I sigh. "Honestly? I have no idea."

Jackson doesn't respond and looks past me. I turn to see a man, dressed in a grey shirt and dark jeans walk up the porch steps. A girl who looks about our age follows behind him. The man stops beside us and looks at Jackson.

"What are doing back?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Jackson replies.

"Um who are they?" I ask Jackson curiously.

"That's Derek. Stiles and McCall mentioned him, right?"

"Yeah he did."

"Who are you though?" Jackson asks the girls standing beside Derek.

"Cora. I'm his sister." I recall Stiles mentioning Derek's sister beforehand.

"We're back to help with Peter," Derek explains to us.

Jackson nods. "That's why I'm back as well."

"You must be Danny," Cora says when the four of us make our way inside, back to the kitchen where Stiles and Scott were still seated.

"Yeah."

"My uncle Peter must have freaked you out earlier," Cora comments.

I shrug. "Nah not really."

Cora gives me a look and Jackson glances at me as well.

"Fine, maybe a little," I admit.

Derek remains standing as Cora and I take a seat at the table with Scott and Stiles. Jackson stands off to the side behind my chair. Stiles hands Derek the report we found. Derek didn't seem to be too convinced until Stiles mentioned the part about the similarities between the marks on the girl's body and the marks Peter left on Lydia when he attacked her last year.

"Okay, then we need a plan," Derek states and stares at Scott.

"I agree. But what can we do until Peter actually makes a move?"

"Hasn't he already? I mean he already approached Danny," Stiles points out.

"For once I actually agree with Stilinski," Jackson states.

"What did he say to you?" Derek asks me.

"He said that he wanted to introduce himself to me. That was it."

"Huh," Derek grunts.

"Then maybe we just question him," Cora suggests.

"How well is that going to go over? He'll just either deny everything or talk us in circles," Stiles replies.

"That might be the only option we have though," Derek points out, glancing at Stiles.

"We can't wait for him to actually attack and risk him harming another person," Scott adds.

We continue talking and decide that Derek, Scott, Jackson and Cora are going to go meet with Isaac and talk to Ethan and Aiden. Derek seemed hesitant to include them, but with convincing from Scott and Cora, he agreed. Stiles and I agreed to stay in the house until one of them came back. From what I heard, Lydia and Allison got the same message, despite the arguing I'm pretty sure she and Scott were having.

"So what do you want to do?" Stiles asks me as we get settled on the couch with the T.V. on some random commercial about furniture.

"I don't know. T.V?" I suggest.

Stiles nods in agreement and focuses on the T.V. It doesn't last long though, as I see him checking his phone every few minutes.

"How do you think it's going?" I ask, checking my phone as well.

"Don't have any idea. Hey, do you want a something to eat? I'm starved."

"Sure. Whatever is fine with me."

Stiles gets up and heads into the kitchen. I hear him rummaging in the cabinets briefly.

"Hey Danny. I'm gonna take the garbage out quickly. I forgot to earlier, and my dad will be home in the morning," Stiles calls from the kitchen.

"Okay!" I reply back to him. I hear a bit more movement before the door back door opens and closes shut behind him. I barely pay any attention to the T.V as some cartoon is playing and I keep checking my phone for any information for what is going on. I was expecting that Jackson at least would text me.

Five minutes past and Stiles still hasn't come in. I get up and walk into the kitchen to find it still empty. Frowning I take a step outside to see if Stiles was out there, but there was nothing.

"Stiles," I call. I wait but only hear the buzz of the T.V from the living room.

Suddenly my phone rings and Stiles' name comes up.

I quickly answer. "Where are you?"

"Danny?" Stiles voice blares into the phone.

"Stiles? Where are you?"

"Peter. He threatened my dad. Danny-" Stiles gets cut off and I hear a bunch of shuffling before another voice speaks.

"Follow my instructions carefully and you and Stiles won't get hurt."

Peter.

"What do you want?" I demand.

"For you to meet us."

"Where?"

"Do you know where the old Hale house is?"

"Yeah."

"It's close by. When you get there, take a left and you'll find a tree stump. I believe you've heard of it has the nemeton. Stiles' is leading me there right now."

"Fine. Don't hurt him," I reply. I didn't want Stiles to get hurt by me not listening.

"I have no intention to hurt either of you. Just come. And don't tell Scott or Derek anything. Oh and Jackson," Peter tells me before the line goes dead.

I rush into the kitchen and spot Stiles' keys on the table. I didn't drive here and taking Stiles' car was the only transportation I could use without informing anyone else where I was going. I knew I had to let them know something was wrong, though I was guessing Peter already had that plan. I decided against texting them. Who knew if Peter would check my phone or not. I spot a note pad, and quickly try to think of what to say.

**Trouble. Stiles and I are with Peter. Go left once we get to Hale House. The nemeton. **


	14. Final Confrontation

** Chapter 14 - Final Confrontation**

"Come on!" I shout to the car in front of me. I'm minutes away from the turn to the Hale house and the traffic seems to be picking up. Not to mention I've never drove Stiles' jeep before and it seems to not like me very much. The wheel is not turning the way I'm used to and the brakes seem to be kind of rusty.

I'm driving way over the speed limit and I'm lucky that no one has pulled me over. I wouldn't want the Sheriff to pull me over. If I have to explain what is going on to him, he will insist on going with me and I know Stiles will not appreciate that. Not to mention that would not be the safest idea.

The car in front of me keeps on driving as the turn for the Hale house comes up. I step on the gas and roughly drive Stiles' jeep onto the road. For the most part, the dirt road seems to be okay to drive on. A bit rocky, but mostly smooth.

It was getting dark pretty fast and up ahead I could see a house. I pull the jeep to a stop in front of it, shutting off the engine and step out onto the ground. Despite the lighting, you can tell the house suffered some severe damage to it. I was surprised the house was still standing. I take a look around and stiffen; there appears to not be any sign of life around.

I begin walking left of the Hale house into the forest, keeping my eyes and ears on high alert for Peter or Stiles. I didn't want Peter getting the upper hand in this situation. Well, more of an upper hand, since he already is holding Stiles hostage and planning to do who knows what with him.

The trees all seemed to blur together as I make my way past them. I have a slight fear I am going the wrong way, but with remembering Peter's only direction was to go left, I keep going. I really hope that the others have returned to Stiles' house and have found the note. I don't really want to be on my own for this; me and Stiles against Peter. I guess I could have stayed put until they got back, but it didn't feel right. In a way I owe it to Stiles to come. I haven't treated him the greatest in the past, and he has been the one to help me understand everything in this short amount of time.

Up ahead, I hear a voice. Actually two. One of them seemed to be arguing and the other seemed to be very calm. I'm really hoping that it's not two random people, wanting to spend a night camping or anything. That would be just our luck and Peter's luck.

As I continue walking towards the voices, they become a bit more clearer.

"You know they are going to come!" the louder of the voices exclaimed.

I recognized the voice.

Stiles.

I quicken my pace, in order to get to him faster.

"Oh, they'll come- hmm finally, the other one is here now," Peter says turning to face me as I walk into view. I see Stiles' face light up with hope.

"Take a seat Danny. We may be here a while." I stay standing where I am at first, but after Peter gives me a look, I move towards Stiles and take a seat next to him.

"Hmm... a little more space between you two would be nice."

Sighing, I shift over so that I wasn't sitting right next to Stiles on the ground. I didn't really want to follow Peter's orders, and by the look on Stiles' face he didn't want to either, but we still don't know what Peter wants with us exactly. We only had a hunch.

"As I was saying," Peter says turning to face us. "They'll come."

"Why do you sound so confident?" I ask. I was positive they would come for us too, but Peter sounded overly confident and the more we can get Peter talking, the more we can find out.

"Because I am," Peter says smugly. "Stiles- do you remember what I told you the last time we found ourselves in this situation?"

I frown in confusion for a moment, thinking about everything Stiles told me about the night Peter had been killed. Then I realize he is talking about when he and Stiles found themselves looking for Scott and Derek. I remember Stiles telling me he had no other options left; Lydia would end up dying if he didn't go with Peter.

Stiles nods. "Yup. You said that I would help because it was Scott."

Peter smiles and it creeps me out. "You're best friend, who you know so well," Peter finishes for Stiles.

I eye Stiles and see him completely focused on Peter.

"Now it seems the roles are reversed a bit. Scott will come because his best friend is in trouble. I know Derek will come with Scott and I know that behind them the others are coming as well."

I stiffen. How is it that he got away with spying on us all this time?

"But, don't worry... I'm not after everyone of them."

"Then who?" I ask. I had no clue who he could be after. Is it Derek, Scott or us? We were positive it could be Scott, but I don't know.

"Scott. He's after Scott," Stiles states.

Peter smirks and nods.

"He's a true Alpha. I've always been the alpha. Not Scott."

"Only because you killed your niece," Stiles remarks. Peter continues to smirk at us or more like Stiles. He doesn't give a reply to Stiles' comment, instead choosing to stay silent. From the way Stiles and Peter are interacting, I can tell that this is the way they must always speak to each other.

My cell phone starts to blare with an incoming call. I recognize the ring tone as the one I have set to indicate it is Jackson.

"Gimme the phone," Peter tells me and holds his hand out in front of me. I reluctantly place it in his hand.

"Hello Jackson," he answers. With the way Peter is acting, I'm beginning to get nervous for the others. I hear a sound from my right and I look to see Stiles facing me. He's lifting his palm towards me and mouthing the words, "It's okay." I smile gratefully at his reassurance and turn back to Peter who was eyeing us while listening to whatever threats Jackson was probably throwing his way at the moment.

"Nah, I haven't hurt them." Peter listens to Jackson's reply.

"Mhm. Just come." And he hangs up the phone and gives it back to me.

"Well Jackson seems mad," Peter remarks. It was easy to tell that he was amused.

"What do you want with me?" I ask. "You've been following me around and watching me, but what do you want?"

Peter laughs. "You all really thought I was only after you."

I frown in confusion. I'm the only one he has been paying a special attention too. I look at Peter and he seems to keep his stare on me.

"Oh my god," Stiles mutters. My eyes widen in realization.

"Me and Stiles," I state.

Peter nods. "I'm not an idiot. If they knew I was after both of you, then it would have been much harder to get you both here."

"But what now?" I ask.

"Oh, I believe Stiles may have an idea." I look towards Stiles and he was staring grimly back at me.

"He wants us apart of his pack after he tries to get the Alpha status back."

"We were right."

Peter smirks. "Yup. You didn't really need to go to my apartment to figure that out," he mocks.

I glare at him.

"Why not do it now then?" Stiles asks. I turn to him in disbelief, but the looks in his eyes tells me he was just bluffing.

"Because when I steal the power back from Scott, and kill the alpha twins Ethan and Aiden and kill Jackson, I want to make them watch as the two most important people in their lives are becoming like them."

"I thought you weren't going to kill them?" I exclaim. He just promised!

Stiles snorts. "Like he would actually keep a promise."

"Why would I keep the others alive? So they can all team up to kill me after I steal the powers from Scott?" Peter continues to mock me. I don't reply and Stiles remains silent as well. Peter glances around the area, to I assume hear if anyone is coming. When nothing appears to happen, he turns back to us and just stares.

"What?" Stiles asks, annoyed.

Peter shrugs.

"You know, you weren't very well hidden," I announce.

"Do you mind explaining what you mean by that Danny?" Peter replies innocently.

"He means, that you following him around, approaching him on the field that day was what gave you up. And not to mention that couple you brutally mauled," Stiles remarks.

"Mauled?" Peter seems amused.

"Yeah mauled. That's what animals do." Stiles smirks.

"Hmm, I guess I was pretty obvious was I?" Peter states, ignoring Stiles' animal comment.

I nod. "The marks that you left on the girl's body resemble the ones you left on Lydia's body last year. But... you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Peter looks a bit surprised for a moment, but then that is gone and he's back to smirking at us.

"I guess they really did fill you in on everything," Peter remarks. "But, yes. It was a message. I knew that some of you would know it was me."

Stiles glares at Peter, but Peter seems unfazed. The silence of the forest disappears as I hear movement from different directions from all around. I feel my body tense from the sounds. Peter is on high alert as well.

From my left, I see Scott appear followed by Jackson. I focus past Peter's shoulder and see Ethan enter the area with Aiden by his side. I glance past Stiles on my right and see that Derek, Cora and Isaac have appeared as well.

"Well, nice of you to join us," Peter greets them.

"Why are we here of all places?" Isaac asks.

"Well, I figured everything seemed to have started here, so why not have it end here?"

Scott steps forward. "Leave them out of this. This is between us."

"You're right it is."

"You want my Alpha status," Scott states.

"Everyone's figured it out," Peter mocks. "Jeez, it wasn't rocket science or anything."

"You're not getting it," Derek speaks up.

Peter doesn't spare him a glance. "Well, you're not an alpha anymore Derek, so that leaves only three."

"Yeah three. Why are you just targeting McCall then?" Jackson asks. I didn't want him to hurt Scott, Ethan or Aiden, but that was a good question.

"Because I turned Scott. He doesn't get to be an alpha and have me be a beta."

"You're more like an omega," Derek retorts.

Peter smirks. "Hm, you may be right Derek."

"So what are you going to kill us all?" Cora speaks up.

"No, not you and Derek. You're family."

"It wouldn't be the first time you killed your family," Stiles mutters. From the corner of my eye I think I see Jackson smirk at that comment.

"So, who's going to start?" Peter asks the werewolves. Stiles and I look at everyone of them to see who will make the first move. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Isaac dart forward towards Peter.

"Isaac," Scott groans and rushes forward as well. The fight begins and all of a sudden everyone seemed to have wolfed out, like I had seen the night I found out. Surprisingly, Peter seemed to be holding up a good front. He darts off into the forest with them right on his heels.

"Run! You idiots!" Jackson shouts before taking off after Peter as well. Stiles jumps up and grabs my arm. He's dragging me into the forest as well.

"Where did you park my jeep?" Stiles asks as we run. It was hard, but I managed to not trip over any fallen branches on the ground.

"The Hale house," I reply. I dig through my pocket and hand him the keys, which he gladly accepts.

Stiles and I quicken our pace as the Hale house begins to come into view. I hear a bunch of growls and I know that they are really close by. I just wanted to get into the jeep and lock the doors.

As we get to the jeep, I notice more cars there and two figures standing by them in the shadows.

Allison and Lydia.

They run up to meet us at Stiles' jeep.

"What are you guys doing here?" I exclaim. I didn't think they would have come along.

"We're here to help," Lydia replies and Allison gives her a look. "Well...more like Allison is here and I refused to stay at home."

I look at Allison and for the first time I noticed she was carrying a bow and arrow. I remember Stiles mentioning stuff about how Allison is apart of a family of hunters.

"Aim straight for his head," Stiles tells her. She grins at him.

"Gotcha ya. Or his leg may be the better option," she suggests.

Stiles considers this. "Hmm, I guess."

Despite the current situation we were in, Lydia and I find ourselves laughing at them. Stiles and Allison begin to talk about a plan. Just watching them, you can easily tell that they have been in this for a while now and know more about what they are doing. Lydia stands next to me as we lean against Stiles' jeep and wait for them to finish as well. From what I've been told, she hasn't been apart of this as much either, so she must be as clueless as I am as to what to do.

Allison and Stiles seemed to have finished talking and Allison makes her way towards the forest and away from us.

"Where are you going?" Lydia asks as she makes her way pass us. Allison stops and turns towards us.

"To finish this with Peter," she explains. Lydia and I exchange looks with each other.

"Is that really a good idea?" I ask her.

"They need help," Allison replies.

You may get hurt," I point out.

Allison lifts up the bow and arrow. "I'll be fine."

"We'll go with you," Lydia suggests when she sees that I wasn't getting anywhere.

Allison shakes her head. "No. No. Stay here."

Lydia and I look worriedly at each other, while Stiles' face remains neutral; confident that Allison would be fine.

"I mean it Stiles." She gives Stiles a look.

"Yeah, yeah," he says and waves her off. That's all Allison waits for as the next moment she is jogging across the Hale property and into the forest direction of where the others are. The three of us stand in a slight circle watching where Allison disappeared to. Stiles is the first to move and he rushes over to his jeep.

"What are you doing?" I ask as Stiles yanks open the door to the passenger side and digs around in the glove department.

"I'm going," he states and comes out with two different bags. One was a power and the other one was a plant.

"Mountain ash," Stiles explains and holds up the powdered bag. "And wolfs bane." He holds up the plant.

"She told us not to go," I remind him, though I already know that it will be no use. He was going no matter what we say.

"Yeah. But I'm not sitting here while Peter tries to kill my best friend. My brother." Stiles takes off at a jog in the direction that Allison had just gone. I spare a glance at Lydia before I take off after Stiles.

"You're not going alone then," I state when Stiles looks at me questioningly. He nods at me and quickens his pace. I hear feet moving behind us. I look behind me to see that Lydia was surprisingly matching our pace.

"What? I'm not staying there alone," Lydia remarks.

The three of us enter the woods, with Stiles leading the way. It was completely dark outside now and the forest was now ten times as creepy as it was beforehand. It was mostly silent around us. The only sounds that could be heard was our feet making contact with the forest ground.

"I'm sure they will be fine without us," I say half heartily. I move forward a bit so that I am walking shoulder to shoulder with Stiles instead of behind him.

"I'm not risking it," Stiles states and quickens his pace. Stiles was walking so fast that he tripped over a piece of a loose branch on the ground. Luckily, I caught his arm before he could go tumbling to the ground.

"DAMN IT!" Stiles yells and angrily kicks the branch away from us.

"Stiles-" Lydia tries to speak up but she gets cut off.

"You don't understand! I'm not letting Peter do anything to him!" Stiles shouts and stops walking.

"Stiles, Scott's strong. He'll make it," Lydia reassures him.

"You don't know that," Stiles replies softly. "I'm not risking the chance of losing him. It's almost happened so many times before." Stiles looks at Lydia.

Lydia doesn't say anything and nods in understanding. I know that Stiles is talking about the suicides that almost happened a few months ago.

"I understand," I tell him. Stiles looks at me curiously.

"I can't stand the thought of losing Jackson either," I explain and Stiles nods his head. "Or Ethan," I admit. Lydia rubs my arm soothingly and leans close to me.

"Let's go then," Lydia tells us. Stiles doesn't need to be told twice and begins walking again with Lydia and I on both sides of him. From the distance, howls and movement can be heard as well as lots of grunts and crashes. It was easy to tell that the fight was in full swing. As the trees began separating into what looks like a clearing, I could see sparks flying everywhere. Peter was in the center of it all, somehow managing to avoid it all. More sparks flew and I took a closer look to see that Allison was shooting her arrows at full force. One of the arrows flew a bit past Peter and landing close to our feet.

"Sorry!" Allison shouts.

"It's fine. You could of took off our toes but no big deal!" Stiles shouts back sarcastically at her but grins. Allison returns the smile, even though we clearly disobeyed her.

"Stiles seriously!" I hear Scott shout. I take another look and see him near Peter fighting alongside Isaac and Derek. Ethan and Aiden are standing by, taking part every time that they were needed. Cora was standing by Allison, taking everything in.

"You should have known I would have come!" Stiles shouts.

Jackson emerges from behind Allison and stops when he sees us.

"Does anyone ever listen!?" he asks and glares at the three of us as he takes off towards Peter and the others.

Lydia, Stiles and I take off towards Allison to stand near her. The twins look relieved as we made our way closer. Ethan rushes forwards and pulls me into a fierce hug.

"You should have stayed back," he mumbles into my neck. The hug brings me comfort and warmth. Despite the fact that this was not how two friends should be acting, it felt nice to be hugging him.

I hug him back just as tightly. "I couldn't let Stiles come alone."

Stiles and Lydia both give me a look from behind Ethan. I pull back from Ethan and look up at his face.

"Right, right," Ethan says, staring into my eyes. I wanted to tell him that I was worried about his and Jackson's safety as well. I just couldn't get the words out of my mouth.

We all turn to face the fight again. Peter seemed to be losing energy fast. He had his work cut out from him all along. Scott seemed to be fine aside from a few scratches on his arms while Peter seemed to becoming more bloody by the moment. Peter landed a good swipe at Derek and and Derek stepped back. It looks as if he was in a bit of pain. Scott had his back turned for a moment and didn't see Peter come up behind him.

"Look out!" Allison shouts. Jackson tackles Peter and Isaac pulls Scott out of harms way. Scott smiles at Isaac gratefully.

"Thanks for having my back," Scott says to Isaac as they run over to where Jackson and Peter were still on the ground, fighting just as strongly as they were on their feet.

Scott's words make me glance at Stiles. When I look beside me, I notice that Stiles has a pained expression on his face. He was trying to not let Scott's words to Isaac effect him. Stiles looks at me and smiles sadly, though it was clear he was hurt.

Peter roughly shoves Jackson away from him and Jackson lands roughly on his back. I almost move forward when I feel a hand on both my arms. I look to my left and see Stiles shaking his head at me and I look to my right to see Ethan doing the same.

"He's fine," Ethan informs me.

I nod at him and turn back to the fight. I watch as Jackson slowly lifts himself up and I see Derek has recovered as well and they are moving back to where Peter is fighting with Scott and Isaac.

More arrows fly towards them. I look to see that Allison had continued to shoot the arrows. But despite how good of aim she may have had, there was just too many people around Peter in order to get a good hit.

Peter was about to get a good hit at Scott when Derek swiped at him from behind making Peter land on the ground once again. They all seemed to be getting tired and it was a matter of time before any of them dropped from exhaustion. Peter seemed to be wearing down, but managed to get a swipe at Scott's arm.

One moment Stiles was standing beside me and the next he took off towards them. My hand wasn't fast enough and I couldn't grab a hold of him.

"STILES DON'T!" Cora and I shout after him. Ethan tightens his hold on my arm to keep me from following him. It wasn't me they had to worry about as Lydia took off after Stiles.

"LYDIA!" Aiden shouts. We all watch as Stiles it towards Peter, managing to dodge Isaac who tried to hold him back. Stiles pulls out the wolfs bane and shoves it at Peter.

Ethan lets go of my arm as Peter falls to the ground. I move to follow before I feel another set of arms grab a hold of me. I crane my neck to see that Aiden was the one holding me back.

"They'll be fine," Aiden reassures me, though he didn't look so sure himself.

Lydia comes up beside Stiles and is standing close enough for Peter to reach out and grab Lydia by the leg. She loses balance and falls next to him on the ground as he keeps a hold of her leg and twists. A loud, ear piercing scream follows after. Lydia is crying on the ground as Stiles is standing over her. Peter is smirking at them, when Jackson and Ethan make their way quickly over to Peter.

Scott makes a move to kill Peter, but Derek stops him. "You can't! You won't be an alpha if you do so."

Aiden lets me go and takes off towards them. I follow quickly after him. Ethan and Jackson smirk at each other before Ethan steps forward and takes one final swipe at Peter, finally killing him. I thought that Jackson would have helped out, but taking one look at him, I knew that he wasn't capable of killing people. Well, aside from the whole kanima fiasco.

Peter lays there on the ground, completely motionless. Cora and Allison run up to us to see the damage.

"Is he going to stay dead this time?" Allison asks the unspoken question.

"We're going to have to cut his body in half, or in pieces," Derek replies.

"Why does that matter?" Isaac asks curiously from beside Derek.

"Werewolves can't come back if their body is completely destroyed. That's why Laura couldn't come back after Peter killed her. She was cut in half," Derek explains. We all nod and Ethan and Aiden decide to do the honours of cutting the body. They move Peter's body a little away from us and I see their claws come up. Not wanting to be scarred with nightmares, I turn my focus on Lydia who was in serious pain.

"It's a broken ankle," Stiles announces from beside her. Scott drops to his knees next to Stiles and examines Lydia's leg before nodding his head in agreement. I guess having a mom as a nurse pays off in times like this.

Aiden and Jackson both move towards Lydia as well. I look to see that Ethan was burying the body.

"We need to her to a hospital," Aiden says.

Jackson glares at him. "No shit, Sherlock." Even though Jackson had a glare set on his face, I knew he was upset that Lydia was in pain.

"You guys can dig a hole with your claws?" I ask. What couldn't they do?

Cora laughs. "No no. I ran back to the car when the fight started to get it, since we were going to need it. I can't say I wasn't too surprised to see you three weren't there."

I smile shyly.

"Um, lets talk about this later. Lydia really should get to a hospital," Allison says.


	15. Bonding Moments

**Authors Note: Hey everyone! I basically just wanted to let everyone know that this is the second last chapter. I'll be posting the last chapter tomorrow night before Teen Wolf premieres. So anyway, please read and please review let me know what you think! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Teen Wolf, it all belongs to Jeff Davis.**

* * *

**Chapter 15 -Bonding Moments**

"Thank god you're okay," I say walking into the room that Lydia had been assigned. Stiles and Jackson follow me from behind.

"Yeah, Ms. McCall confirmed that it was a broken leg," Lydia informs us. She adjusts herself, the best she could into a sitting position with the help of Aiden, who was occupying one of the seats by her bed. From looking around, I see that Lydia's mother must not be back from her business trip as well as her father.

I glance at Ethan briefly, who was standing behind Aiden, and Ethan gives me a small smile in return. I take a seat on the other side of her bed and I see Jackson take the seat next to mine. I glance at him, only to see him glaring at Aiden. I look at Stiles who stood behind Jackson and I noticed that he looked indifferent to Aiden and Lydia.

"It could have been worse. I told you guys to stay put. Stiles..." Allison points out from her spot by the window.

"What?! I don't even know why you bothered to tell me that!" Stiles exclaims, shrugging his shoulders in the process.

Jackson snorts. "Yeah. Telling Stilinski to follow instructions and expecting him to listen. Bad move on your part."

Lydia laughs with him in agreement and Jackson stares at her smiling. They seemed to be in their own little world and don't even take notice when Scott and Isaac enter the room. Isaac gravitates towards Allison and Scott lingers beside Stiles. The image of Stiles' hurt look towards Scott earlier pops up into my head and I make a mental note to talk with Stiles later about it.

"Where's Derek and Cora?" Stiles asks Scott. I see Jackson and Lydia become aware of the newcomers in the room and I notice that Aiden seems to be trying not to say anything about their moment. Ethan catches my look towards them and raises his eyebrows at the situation.

"Oh, they wanted time to themselves," Isaac answers before Scott could. I slightly turn in my seat and catch Stiles clench his fist. I place my hand on his arm, urging him not to say anything. He glances down at me, before nodding and then smiles past me. I turn to see Lydia watching us and smiling at Stiles.

"Yeah, even though Peter is a complete nut job, he's still family to them and they don't have much of that anymore," Scott replies.

"Yeah, that's not really their fault now is it?" Jackson comments. No one says anything to that and I look to see Allison glaring at Jackson.

"It's not Allison's either," Lydia defends. "It's her crazy Aunt's fault."

Allison smiles at Lydia appreciatively.

I hear Jackson sigh. "I didn't mean it was her fault. Holy, chill out."

I lightly smack Jackson on the arm, even though he didn't totally deserve it.

"We never know what you could have meant," Scott remarks.

"He didn't mean anything by it," I defend Jackson.

"Guys, I know he didn't. You're just being Jackson," Allison says. Stiles and Scott laugh.

"Uh, thanks?" Jackson replies.

Allison smiles and looks out the window. I look at Lydia in time to see Aiden grab onto her hand to hold it. Lydia seems to hesitate for a moment before squeezing back. I glance at Jackson again to see that he has a pained look on his face, and out of the corner of my eye, I notice that Ethan was watching us. I smile and turn my attention back to Jackson. Jackson glances at me and then sets the neutral look on his face again. I place my hand on his arm reassuringly and smile when Jackson seems to lean in for the comfort.

Ms. McCall chooses that moment to come in to tell us that they were going to check on Lydia's leg before leaving it for the night. We all leave the room and head in different directions. I look to see Jackson heading off by himself down the hallway. Sensing that he was pissed off, I decided to let him be for a little while. I know it hurt him to see Lydia and Aiden together in the room.

Allison goes to call her father to let him know about Lydia's leg and Scott and Isaac seem to be lingering in the waiting room talking to Ethan. Stiles mentions something to me in passing about going to the vending machine and heads off as well. I notice Aiden no where in sight and when I look at Ethan questioningly, he shrugs his shoulders and turns back to Scott and Isaac.

Seeing no one to talk to, I head off after Stiles. Now was as good as any time to talk to Stiles about earlier. I make my way down the hallway, past the many nurses and doctors who were either walking out of their patients rooms or discussing things with their patient's families. Gurneys lay abandoned by doorways and I sigh in relief that it was not that busy tonight. I'm not the biggest fan of hospitals and I hate seeing all these people in pain.

I turn a few more corners and the vending machines come into sight, but Stiles was not standing in front of them. I glance a bit more down the hallway and take note of Stiles standing by a corner, appearing to be watching and listening to something on the other side of the wall. I walk up to Stiles and make sure to make some noise in order to not scare him. I was curious as to what had Stiles' full attention.

Stiles turns and sees me a few steps from him, and nods his head in the direction he was looking. I come up beside him and I glance around the wall to see Aiden and Jackson standing face to face. They appeared to be having a conversation and by the looks of it, the conversation didn't seem to be a pleasant one.

"She's not your girlfriend anymore so back off," I hear Aiden tell Jackson. I raise my eyebrows. Jackson doesn't take well to demands.

"Me?" Jackson scoffs. "The only reason that you and her are together is because I left."

"Yeah, you left. I was the one there for her."

Jackson snorts. "There for her. You mean use her to get to Derek. I talked to Danny about it already."

"And if you also talked to Danny then you would know that is not the whole case."

"Whatever."

"I don't even know what your problem is. You come here, which I'm glad you did. You helped a lot. But you come here and give me the stink eye all night because I'm comforting my girlfriend. MY girlfriend."

"Keep saying MY girlfriend, it's not like the whole hospital can hear you," Jackson remarks.

"I'm just saying..."

"And I'm just saying that I don't care that she is dating someone else."

I roll my eyes at Jackson's stubbornness and I see Stiles do the same. Of course Jackson won't openly admit that he cares.

I hear Aiden snort at Jackson's comment, obviously not believing a word he was saying as well.

"However, I must say that I would actually prefer Stilinski with her then you."

I glance at Stiles and he seems just as shocked as I am that Jackson would openly admit that.

"Stiles? Since when is he interested in her?" Aiden seems surprised.

I bury my mouth in my arm in an attempt to hide my laugh. I know the twins were new and all, but they seriously didn't know about Stiles' crush on Lydia? I turn to head to the left to see Stiles shoot me a glare before turning his attention back to the conversation between Jackson and Aiden.

"Seriously?" Jackson laughs. "You haven't seen the way he absolutely worships her?"

'I do not!' Stiles mouths to me in shock and waves his arms. I quickly grab his arm before it can move past the wall. I didn't want Stiles to blow our cover.

"I haven't. They seem to be really good friends in my opinion."

"Well they are. That still surprises me." Jackson snorts.

"Well whatever. I'm dating her, not you and not Stiles."

"Yeah... well whatever." Jackson says. I glance over the corner to see Jackson walking away from Aiden and towards us. Aiden heads towards the doors leading to the courtyard of the hospital. I assume it is to get a bit of fresh air before heading back to the room. Stiles quickly grabs my arm and we run in the direction I came and go the opposite way from Lydia's room. We see Jackson turn the corner and heads down towards where the others are.

Stiles makes a move to follow behind him, but I grab his arm and direct him to two seats nearby. I take a seat first and he looks confused as he takes the seat next to mine.

"What's going on?" he asks me.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" I ask him.

Stiles looks confused and makes a motion to show he is really thinking hard.

I whack him in the arm. "I'm serious!"

Stiles jumps back from my hit. "What! I don't know!" he exclaims.

I sigh. "I know that up until recently we barely spoke to each other, but I actually consider us friends now."

Stiles nods. "Me too buddy." He pats me on the back and smiles.

"And..." I continue. "As your friend, I know something is off with you."

Stiles' smile falters.

"If you want to talk, I'm here to listen," I offer. "I've told you that before and I mean it when I say it. I'm here to listen and help if you want."

Stiles doesn't make a move to say anything and he leans back into his seat and sighs. I've noticed before, but it was now easy to see how much of a toll everything must be taking on him. He still looks like Stiles, but he seems less excited, less jumpy. I take a closer look at his eyes and notice how worn out he seems to be.

"No offence, but you look like absolute crap Stiles," I tell him.

Stiles snorts. "Thanks dude. Really appreciate that."

"No I'm serious. You don't look like yourself."

Stiles turns in his seat to face me. "Well, I've been having trouble sleeping lately."

I frown. "How so?"

"Like I've been having nightmares every night."

"What do you think is causing this?"

"I don't know. I think it has something to do with the sacrifice I did to find my dad."

"But, how does that have anything to do with it?"

"Deaton said that once we did the sacrifice, it would be like a permanent mark around our heart. He said it was like a darkness. You know, a tattoo sort of."

"Wow." That's a pretty heavy consequence to have to live with for the rest of your life. But I guess it's either that or living with no parents, so Stiles' sacrifice is understandable.

"Yup."

"What else is going on?" I ask. I know it is more than just nightmares that it bothering him.

"I hate being here..." Stiles says. He looks around in both directions tiredly and then looks in his lap at his hands.

"Why? Because of Lydia?" I ask curiously.

"No...well yeah...but that's not where I was going with this. I mean, I really hate hospitals."

It takes me a moment before I realize what he was referring to.

"Your mom?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

Stiles nods, but doesn't make eye contact.

"Yeah. I hate being here, especially when it's someone I really care about that's in pain."

"But it's not like Lydia's condition is life threatening."

"I know. But still."

I smile sadly and notice Ms McCall down the hallway talking to another nurse. She catches my eye and nods her head in concern towards Stiles. I smile to let her know that I was handling it.

"You know the last time I was here, aside from the storm, it was when Cora was in the hospital and I was trying to convince my dad about werewolves." Stiles laughs with no trace of humour behind it.

"He ended up yelling at me and I knew he didn't believe me. You know what I said? I told him that my mom would have believed me and then I walked off."

"You were upset," I tell him. "We all say things we regret when we are upset."

"Yeah, but still. I felt like utter crap after that and then I felt worse when he was taken by the Darach. I apologized after, but I still hate that memory of me saying that to him."

I smile sympathetically at him. He looks up at me and I can see that he was really upset. He wasn't crying, but knowing Stiles for many years, it was easy to tell when he things were bothering him.

"And then there's Lydia. Surprise right?" Stiles remarks. "I helped more than Aiden did when Peter hurt her and yet Aiden is the one who gets lucky."

I sigh.

"And..." Stiles continues. "If Aiden wasn't here. It would be Jackson."

"Maybe not..."

"It would."

"I've seen the way you and Lydia have bonded these last few months. I was actually surprised myself when it had happened, but in a way I wasn't. You and her are more alike then you would think."

Stiles roll his eyes. "How so?"

"Well," I think thoughtfully. "You're both extremely smart. Probably the best in our whole year...Hell, even the school. You both take charge and believe strongly in things that you are passionate about. You and her are both strong."

Stiles smiles at me.

"But, you should move on."

Stiles nods. "I know."

"I'm not saying that you aren't good enough. Because you are. It's just that you should get to experience feelings towards other people. How long have you liked Lydia for anyway?"

"Since the third grade."

I raise my eyebrows. "Wow."

Stiles laughs. "I know. Forever right?"

"Yeah it is. But seriously. Explore more. Move on..."

"I don't know how I feel. It's like I still have hope for her and I, but I'm used to her not wanting me. I've never been first choice to her."

"You shouldn't be used to it though."

"I know," Stiles tells me.

"Just promise me you'll try to get over her."

Stiles nods and holds out his pinky. "I swear."

I laugh and hold out my own pinky and we make a deal.

"You do know I'm team Jackson over Aiden right."

I laugh. "I actually think a lot of us are probably team Jackson."

Stiles laughs too. "I'd thought you would be team Aiden since he's your boyfriend's brother and all."

I open my mouth to reply, but Stiles cuts me off.

"Oh, sorry. I mean your friend's brother," Stiles corrects and smirks.

"Yeah..."

"You totally want Ethan back, don't you?" Stiles smiles knowingly.

"I don't know right now," I tell him honestly.

"Well, just promise that you will go for what you want instead of hiding," Stiles says.

I smile at the irony of the statement. "I will."

Stiles shifts in his seat so that he's facing me more.

"You know I'm team Jackson as well."

Stiles laughs. "I figured as much."

"He's my best friend. That trumps like everything else."

Stiles grins at me. The mention of my best friend reminds me of the other thing I wanted to discuss with Stiles. I look past Stiles and notice Scott walking in our direction.

"So, I've seen the looks you've been shooting towards Scott and Isaac," I say. I see Scott stop walking and him stand off to the side. I know from the look on his face, he was listening.

"What looks?" Stiles asks me.

"Stiles..."

Stiles sighs. "Fine. Maybe I've been giving him a look lately."

"You're jealous," I state. It was clear to me that was the issue here.

"No I'm not!" Stiles exclaims. I notice Scott smile slightly at Stiles' attempt to lie.

"You are."

"Fine."

"Why though?"

"I'm not jealous that Scott has a new friend. It's just..." Stiles doesn't finish his sentence.

"Just what?"

"I feel like in time I'm going to be left behind. Like we're going to change."

"But you're still Scott and Stiles."

Stiles laughs. "Yeah. But then there's Scott and Isaac."

"So what?"

"So? They are getting closer. Which I don't have a problem with. Really, I don't. Isaac deserves to have a friend. But, they live in the same house. They are werewolves."

"That's not going to change anything."

"Really? I seen the way Isaac protected Scott out there from Peter. I wasn't able to do so."

"You threw the wolfs bane in Peter's face," I reminded him.

Stiles grins. "That was awesome wasn't it?"

I laugh and I see Scott grin from his spot near us.

Stiles continues. "I'm just the human friend who got him bit in the first place."

"How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't your fault." I hear Scott say. I look up in slight surprise. I hadn't seen Scott move closer, but now he was standing directly behind Stiles. Stiles whirls around to face Scott.

"Hey Scotty how's it going?" Stiles stammers.

Scott looks at him.

"Uhh, how much of that did you hear?" Stiles asks nervously.

"Everything about Isaac and I," Scott replies. Stiles glances at me and narrows his eyes when he see that I wasn't too surprised.

"Of course you knew."

"Yup." I move to stand up. Stiles goes to follow, but Scott clams a hand down on his shoulder.

"I think we need to talk," Scott states. Stiles huffs and leans back in his seat. Scott moves to take the seat that I was just occupying.

"I'm just going to leave you both alone."

"Thanks Danny," Scott tells me. I nod and look at Stiles who was looking very nervous.

"Hear him out. He's your best friend," I tell him.

Stiles nods. "He's my brother," Stiles says. Scott smiles at him and I smile too before heading down the hallway towards Lydia's room. I feel a slight amount of guilt for making Stiles admit that stuff when Scott had been standing right there, but I know that if I were in Scott's place, then I would want to know what was bothering Jackson.

I walk past Ms. McCall, and she reaches out a hand to stop me.

"Are they okay?" Ms. McCall asks me. We both glance down the hallway where Scott appears to be explaining to Stiles that he has nothing to worry about with his friendship with Isaac.

I turn to Ms. McCall. "Yeah, they will be."

She smiles at me and nods for me to continue back to Lydia's room. I smile in return and continue my journey back to where the others were. When I get back to the spot where I left the others, I notice Isaac and Allison heading to the doors leading outside.

Allison looks over her shoulder and spots me.

"We'll be outside," she says.

I nod and look around for Ethan and Aiden. I guess Aiden hasn't returned yet and Ethan must be with him. I glance around and notice that I didn't see Jackson anywhere as well. I walk a bit more towards Lydia's room and I hear two voices inside. Lydia and Jackson.

At this point, I'm surprised that I've managed to overhear so many conversations. I linger outside the doorway and listen in.

"I've missed you," Lydia says to Jackson. I peak my head in and see that they are holding hands and to see Jackson sitting in the chair beside Lydia's bed, his back to the door. Lydia doesn't notice me either.

"Of course you did," Jackson replies.

I roll my eyes and smile.

"I missed you too," he adds.

"It sucks that you're going home soon."

"Yeah, you'll be stuck with that Aiden guy. I can see why you're upset," Jackson says, sarcastically.

"You left."

"I didn't have a choice Lydia."

"You did have a choice Jackson. You could have stayed. What happened to the guy who demanded to get what he wanted from his parents?"

"I had to go. I needed a change."

"Oh."

"I never left you though. Or Danny."

"But he was miserable without you." I smile sadly, knowing that it was the truth but didn't think that many people noticed.

"I know."

"I survived though," Lydia remarks. I smirk at that total lie.

"Riight."

Lydia laughs. "But I'm seriously going to miss you."

"You may not have to though..."

Wait, what?

"What are you talking about?" Lydia asks.

"What do you think I'm talking about?" Jackson remarks.

"If you mean what I think you mean..."

"I'm not sure yet, but it's a possibility."


	16. This Isn't So Bad After All

**Authors Note: Well here it is, the last chapter! I was ready to post this last night and all, before the Teen Wolf premiere, but unfortunately this site was down last night, which prevented me from updating. So, here is the chapter now. It honestly doesn't feel like that long ago that I began writing this story and was planning everything that was going to happen. I'm really proud of this story and the way that it turned out and I hope that everyone likes this chapter! It is the last one.**

**On another note, Teen Wolf premiered last night! I'm really excited to see what is going to happen! Let me know what you all think.**

**So anyway, here's the last chapter and I hope that you all review to tell me what you thought of it. **

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**Chapter 16 – This Isn't So Bad After All**

I gulp down the remainder of my water bottle before heading back towards the waiting room. After overhearing some of Jackson and Lydia's conversation, I quickly left and went back to see how Scott and Stiles were doing. I witnessed them hugging it out and grinning at each other. It brought a smile to my face to see that they have worked everything out.

Now, they are nowhere in sight and I'm walking back down the hallway to see if I see anyone. I'm still in shock of hearing what Jackson said. But, I don't want to say anything until he tells me himself.

As the waiting room comes into view, I spot Jackson sitting on one of the seats talking on his cell phone. I take a closer look and see that he was grinning from ear to ear. He looks up and sees me approaching and he says bye to whoever he was talking to.

"My parents," he tells me when I take the seat next to his.

"Oh cool? Where's everyone else?" I look around the waiting room and see no one else in nearby.

"Uh, Lahey and Allison are still outside somewhere I think. Stilinski and McCall went into Lydia's room and the twins are somewhere...don't know where."

I nod.

Jackson keeps on grinning at me and seems to be fidgeting in his seat.

"So, what's going on?" I ask curiously. I've hardly seen Jackson this excited before.

"Well...I'm moving back!" he exclaims.

"What?" I ask, grinning at the fact that I wasn't just hearing things when he told Lydia this.

"Yeah! My parents said yes!"

"Are they moving back?" I didn't think his parents would let him move back on his own without them.

"Uh, no. At least not yet. I don't know. But, the best part of this is that I'm staying at your house!"

I grin. "Seriously!?"

"You don't mind right? My parents talked to yours and they were completely okay with it."

"No!" I shout excitedly. "This is awesome!"

Jackson grins at me. "I'll have to go back to get some of my stuff, but then I'll be back for good."

I grin in happiness. This was great! I get to live with my best friend in the same house. We've already spent enough time at each others houses while we were growing up that it would feel completely normal to have Jackson around all the time.

"Oh," Jackson smirks. "I totally know you were listening by the way."

"What?" I ask nervously, the grin disappearing from my face.

"You know... you're not that sneaky. I totally heard you while you were standing outside of Lydia's room. And I heard you and Stiles listening to Lydia's boy toy and I."

"Aiden," I correct him.

"Whatever. Point is, I heard you. Though I am impressed with how well your acting as improved. You know with being all excited I'm coming back," Jackson remarks.

"It's not acting. I'm happy you're coming back!"

Jackson smiles at me. "Good."

"So is it only Lydia and I that know?"

"For now."

"What are you going to do when you get back?"

"Hmm...don't know. Hang out with you, maybe beat McCall or even Stiles at being the lacrosse captain." he smirks.

I laugh. "Oh, really? What if I wanted to be the captain this year?"

Jackson snorts. "Hmm, then I guess we would be competing then."

I grin at him. Jackson looks at me and then clears his throat.

"Uh, did you want to be captain? You're the only one I would probably be willing to take orders from."

"Nah I don't, I was just kidding."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Thanks though for you know...offering to let me be it."

Jackson smirks. "If not me, then you would be the best choice."

"That means a lot coming from you," I tell him.

"I know." Jackson stares at me. "So I guess in just a few weeks, I'm going to be back here...living with you, and back at school. And no girlfriend."

"Hey look on the bright side! You get to see Finstock again!"

Jackson glares at me and I grin in response.

"You survived before, you will again! You've got me and believe it or not you have Scott and even Stiles, though he probably won't admit it."

"True, I guess. Having you is a plus. But you're going to be busy with your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend." Though I wasn't so sure how much longer I was going to keep saying that.

Jackson rolls his eyes. "It's only a matter of time before that's back on."

"What about Lydia?" I ask, changing the subject.

"What about her?"

"Aside from me, Stiles and Scott, you have Lydia too."

"You sure about that?"

"Come on. Seriously? I've noticed the way you've looked as though you wanted to kill Aiden all night since we've been here."

"I'm not some crazy, jealous ex boyfriend."

"You sure about that?"

Jackson glares at me.

"I mean about the jealous part," I add in quickly.

"I'm not jealous," Jackson tells me. "And I'm not crazy... I know I was before, but I'm not anymore."

"You mean about the whole Kanima, lizard thing? That sounded disturbing."

"It was."

"What was it like?"

"Honestly? It was a nightmare. It wasn't a walk in the park. At first, I had no clue what was happening to me. All I knew was that the bite Derek gave me wasn't working. I was paranoid all the time. I was myself, but wasn't myself at the same time. You know?"

"Yeah. Like you were in a trance. You were the same person on the outside. You were mostly aware of things. But your mind was messed up."

"Yup. It was messed up. That's why tonight, even though I really wanted to help Ethan kill Peter, I couldn't. I just couldn't kill another person...I've already killed a bunch."

"I know. But just remember that you had no idea you were doing it at the time."

"I know, but I still did. You know what's pretty messed up though?" Jackson pauses to take a few breathes before speaking. "I had to actually sit in some stupid police van, and listen to McCall, Stiles and Allison decide whether or not I was worth saving."

"That must have made you feel pretty lousy." I couldn't imagine having to listen to three people that you go to school discuss whether or not you deserved to live.

"Yeah it did."

"You know, when Stiles was telling me everything, the one thing I didn't understand at first was why you even wanted the bite in the first place. But I do now. It gives you more power. You want to feel like you're the best Jackson, you want to be liked and admired. But who are you trying to impress?"

Jackson stares at the floor in silence. I think back to the many things that could make Jackson act the way he does and the one thing that comes to mind is his parents. Jackson's silence was enough to confirm my guess.

"Jackson, just because you were adopted doesn't mean that you're parents don't love you or that anyone else doesn't. Being adopted doesn't define you. Yes, it is a detail in your life, but what matters is the people in your life. No matter if they are related to you or not."

Jackson sighs. "I know Danny."

"You sure?"

Jackson looks up at me and smiles though, I was kind of expecting a glare.

"I know."

"You do deserve to be saved Jackson. You're one of the strongest people I know," I tell him. It was true. Jackson Whittemore has gone through a lot just the same as everyone else. Some people just hide it better than others.

"Thanks."

I smile in response. "And I guess Scott and the others did save you, because you're sitting here right now." I nudge him lightly on the arm with my shoulder.

Jackson frowns and shakes his head.

"They tried...well most of them. But it was Lydia that was there. She sort of saved me I guess."

I briefly recall Stiles telling me what had happened before Derek and Peter killed Jackson. It was a key. Even I didn't know about that key. Just knowing Jackson makes me know for a fact that giving Lydia a key to his house was a big deal for him and for their relationship.

"I know it's hard to see her with someone else. But Jackson, if you love Lydia then fight for her. Don't let her get away just because you're scared to admit you want to be with her." As much as Lydia seems to be happy with Aiden, I think she truly wants Jackson more. I want them together.

"Maybe you should try taking your own advice," Jackson remarks. He's not rude about it, but the truth behind the statement hits me at full force.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Though I already know what – who – he is referring to.

"I mean you and Ethan. I'm not blind either. I've noticed the looks you've been giving him all night. And the looks that he has been giving you. I can't believe I'm actually encouraging you to date a werewolf, but you should just forgive him already."

"I have."

Jackson rolls his eyes. "What are you afraid of then?"

"Um." I glance at a few nurses down the hallway at the nurses station before looking at Jackson.

Jackson speaks before I get the chance to. "Wait...you're afraid of your feelings aren't you? Come on. Stop letting that one simple thing hold you back."

"It's not that simple Jackson."

Jackson rolls his eyes. "Really, how so?"

"I don't know!" I exclaim.

Jackson sighs. "Look dude, you know I'm not one to be all sappy and I usually try to stay as far away from your love life as I can, but come on! Stop letting your past define you and fight for what you want."

I don't reply right way. I know that he is right. I guess in a way I've always known that I would end up being with Ethan. We weren't capable of being friends. I guess Stiles was right when he said that to me.

"You know, you're my best friend ever, right?"

Jackson smirks. "Of course I am. I'm perfect."

"No seriously. I don't know where I would be without you in my life."

Jackson gives me a quick side hug and smiles. "I guess we're both messed up, huh?"

I laugh. "Yeah...yeah I guess we are."

A cough interrupts us.

I look up and see Ethan standing a few feet away from us.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to you Danny?" He glances at Jackson. "Alone?"

Jackson glances at me before nodding to Ethan.

"Sure dude," he stands up and walks off towards Lydia's room, leaving me alone with Ethan.

Ethan walks over and takes the seat that Jackson had just been occupying moments ago.

"I guess everyone is listening to each others conversations lately?" I comment.

"I wasn't listening..." Ethan tells me.

After I give him a look, he laughs. "Okay, maybe I was. But not to all of it though."

"You heard the stuff about you?"

Ethan nods.

"Oh jeez." I actually find myself blushing a bit at knowing that Ethan heard Jackson and I talking about him.

Ethan doesn't say anything. He keeps eye contact with me though.

"Well are you going to say something?" I would have thought that he would have had more to say about this.

"I've already told you how I felt. The ball is in your court now."

I groan. "Seriously?"

Ethan smiles and nods.

"I don't know what I want." As soon as those words leave my mouth I know that they aren't true. "Actually no, that's a lie. I do, but stuff is getting in the way."

"Like what?"

"This whole other side of being a werewolf."

"Which is?"

"You've killed people Ethan. And it's not like it was by accident. You did it on purpose."

"Peter deserved it."

"I'm not just talking about Peter, Ethan. Yes, he deserved it, and yes your old alpha deserved it too. But did Boyd?"

"Danny-"

"I know you said that you had no choice and that you didn't want to do it... I understand that. But Boyd was completely innocent from what everyone has said. He didn't deserve it." Boyd didn't deserve to die just because he wanted a better life for himself and to be surrounded by friends and people that actually wanted to be around him. He didn't deserve to die when all he was doing was trying to protect his alpha; the one who saved him from his old life and the misery he felt every day.

"I can't change that though. I wish I could change the fact that I helped Derek kill Boyd. That I helped force Derek do it. I wish I could, but I can't. Frankly, I'm not entirely sorry about the other deaths though. Peter deserved it and I spared Jackson from having to do it. And my alpha deserved it and my pack deserved it. But I'm trying to change and I think I've been doing a good job of doing so."

"I'm not saying that you are a monster or anything. I know you feel bad about Boyd."

"Then what are you saying?"

I don't answer. I was feeling a lot of different emotions all at once. I knew it wasn't about Ethan killing people that was holding me back. I know that I'm afraid, I didn't need Jackson, Stiles or even Lydia tell me. I knew. I just needed them to push me a bit in order for me to be able to sit here and have this conversation with Ethan.

"Danny?" Ethan asks me after he sees that I wasn't going to answer his question.

"Umm..." I didn't know what to say.

"I can't change the fact that I've killed people. I can't. Either you can accept it or not," Ethan tells me.

"It's not the fact that you've killed people that is holding me back!"

"Then what is?"

"Ethan I..."

"Are you afraid?" he asks me. "Are you afraid of being around me?"

"I'm afraid of getting hurt this time. More hurt..." I turn my focus to the floor, choosing to look at it instead of at Ethan.

"Like physically or emotionally?" Ethan asks me quietly.

"Both."

Ethan grabs my hand and holds it gently in his own. I look up and make eye contact with him.

"I really like you Ethan. I – I love you." My eyes widen. I didn't think that I was going to confess that, but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I know that they are true.

He grins from ear to ear.

"Really?"

I nod and smile in return.

"I love you too." Before I could react, he pulls me against him and kisses me hard on the lips. I smile in the kiss.

"So? Does this mean that you can accept me?"

"I already have," I say. "I'm just afraid of getting hurt... it's not like I have normal, human friends? Well, except for Stiles, Lydia and Allison."

"No one will hurt you. We do have control of ourselves and our strengths," Ethan reassures me.

I smile.

"I won't hurt you," he tells me.

"I believe that," I tell him honestly. I did believe it. I have a lot of worries and fears, but I know that if I don't take Jackson and Stiles' advice, then I won't be happy.

I lean in for another kiss, not being able to resist him any longer. It doesn't last long, but it was enough to bring a smile to my face.

"Finally!" I hear three sets of voices exclaim. I look up to see Stiles, Scott and Isaac watching us and grinning.

"You're back together!" Stiles shouts. I grin in response and give Ethan one big long kiss. I hear the others laugh before they turn back to Lydia's room, where I assumed she was with Allison. They walk past Jackson who had been standing there as well, smiling at us. I smile back at him.

"Thanks Jacks."

"No problem," he tells me.

I notice Aiden walk up behind Jackson and he smiles at the sight of Ethan and I.

"They're back together," Jackson comments to him. Aiden grins at us.

"I know, it took me long enough," I say. They all laugh at me.

"It's okay. We're back together now," Ethan says, still gripping my hand.

Jackson and Aiden smile at us and we all take note of Cora and Derek making their way past us to Lydia's room. Derek doesn't say anything, but Cora glances at us and smiles. Jackson and Aiden both walk back to Lydia's room, together surprisingly.

"Just so you know, I'm rooting for Aiden," Ethan tells me. I look at him and see him grinning at me, but I knew he was being totally serious.

"Oh?" I ask playfully.

Ethan nods. "Mhmm, he's my brother."

"Well, I'm rooting for Jackson. He's my brother too."

Ethan smiles at me and we continue our way back into Lydia's room. The sight of everyone gathered around her bed was nice to see. As Ethan and I move into the room and stand by Jackson and Aiden, I smile at Scott and Stiles laughing with Isaac about something. Stiles glances at me and smiles.

'Thank you' I see him mouth to me.

'Your welcome,' I mouth back.

Who would have thought that werewolves was the big secret? I'm glad that I know and I wouldn't change the fact that I know or the choices that I have made because of knowing. Everything may not have been perfect, but I was okay with it.

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**A/N: There it is! I hope you all enjoyed it! Please review and tell me what you thought of it. Also fill free to mention what you thought of the Teen Wolf season 3b premiere! **

**Anyway, I want to thank you all again for reading this story and for all the reviews that you all gave. **


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